Questionable Existence
by Patron
Summary: Ryou creates an alternate personality, Bakura, to protect himself from his father's abuse. Bakura struggles to figure out if he exists at all and finds friendship for he and his light in the walls of the Kaiba mansion.
1. Prelude

Okay, so it's been a few years since I did any fanfics and several months+ since I really took time to write anything. I have a fixation on the Bakuras and decided to give writing a short story/novelette a shot. I had planned on it being a completely different story in 3rd person with Kaiba as the focused POV, but Bakura had different ideas and wanted it from his POV. I had also planned on making him an actual brother to Ryou, but again, he changed my plans. Bakura whines until he gets what he wants, so I decided to just give him control.

The following piece of crap is what I farted out. There's language, a little violence, insanity, and a dash of sarcasm to make Bakura feel better about me distorting him so much. I don't consider myself a very good writer, but you're welcome to read.

I was too lazy to come up with a real name. For now it's just gonna be deemed "Questionable Existence" because I am fail that way ^^;

* * *

**PRELUDE**

(Yami Bakura's POV)

I couldn't remember the last thing that happened to me, but I remembered it being hot; I like the heat. Around me was nothing but two colors: a blonde-shade of tan, and blue. That was all that was there, those two colors, and the way they engulfed me in that heat was possibly the most comforting thing. Beyond that, my existence was minimal, even questionable. I couldn't feel or hear or see much of anything outside of those colors and that overwhelming warmth. The only thing I could hear was a muffled sort of crying that gradually became wails of horror. Over time it became a voice that begged in a series of tearful prayers for help. I am really not sure when it happened, but the sound suddenly became deafening, and the colors around me blackened.

For the first time that I can recall, my eyelids opened.

I was on the floor of a room I recognized, though I couldn't begin to figure out how I knew where I was. It was only a brief moment later that I realized I had been the one screaming, that I had been the sound that had pulled me from that comfortably warm non-existence.

Disorientation was overcome when I felt something bludgeon me in the back. My face hit the floor, forcing a grunt of pain from my chest from the impact. It had been a chair, probably an expensive one, but my attacker didn't seem to care. He was yelling and I was still crying. What the hell was I doing, crying?

My body shook; I wasn't so sure why. It could have been from the shock of my current physical state (which was badly beaten), or maybe from the shift of the scenery. Regardless, I wasn't about to just remain here on the floor and let some bastard beat the shit out of me.

The tears had stopped coming at this point, but I could still feel the wet smears on my face as I struggled to sit upright. My body quivered, rebelling weakly against my willpower to stand, begging me to just lie down again and wait the beating out like it seemed accustomed to doing.

Well that would never do.

What might be called 'memories' remained vague, but my mind had already begun to tick into existence. With my growing clarity of existence came my intolerance of being anyone's bitch, and with that I summoned the strength to stand.

The guy who hit me with the chair was still screaming at me, but I mostly ignored it. I could feel him moving through the room, looking for something else to attack me with, so I took the moment to gather my scrambling thoughts.

I lifted a bruised hand to stare at it and took careful note of my pale skin, bitten fingernails, and how my arm was shaking. Stupid body, still trying to rebel. I focused to force the nerves to quiet, smirking with some self-satisfaction when the limb was hushed. There were memories beginning to take shape in my mind. I knew even then that they weren't mine, but they were familiar, stamped with my own signature, and I knew that I owned them now. I allowed the surreal images of faces and places and moments to get snatched and settle, examining them in my inner-eye as I waited for my attacker to make his next move.

I was a fifteen-year-old boy that seemed to lack any notion of a spine or any taste for the sun (if my pale skin was any sign), and the man attacking me was my father. His name was Zorc, and he'd been at this fit of his for a while now.

He was the reason I existed, and he would be the reason I ceased to exist.

Or, at least, that seemed to be the case.

"You little _prick_!" he cried jaggedly. The sound sent shivers down my body in waves of proverbial horror, but I compelled the flesh to relax as I turned on the ball of my worn-out blue sneakers to face him. If I was a creature of light, with my pale skin and pale hair, he was my opposite. Everything about the man was dark: black hair, black eyes, tanned skin, and a black suit that looked like it was worth more than a year's salary for anyone I'd known in the past. Then again, I hadn't exactly had much of a 'salary' to call my own, but I knew expensive when I saw it. "Get your ass back on the floor and _beg_ me not to throw you out!"

I wiped blood from my lip, growling when I realized it would stain the sleeve of my teal-blue shirt. Damn it. That was one of my favorites, too. "Hit me again and I'll kill you." There had been no sign of wavering in my tone—I made sure of that. I snarled again. My brown eyes, reddened around the edges of my irises, slowly lifted to steady with his. The other monster was seething, enraged at my response, which only made my lip curl up in a fierce grin of satisfaction.

"_What_ did you just say?"

"I _said_, hit me _again_ and I'll fucking _kill_ you," I repeated, irritated that I had to restate my warning. "Have trouble hearing, old man?"

"How _dare_ you talk like that to me? I'm your _father_!" he shrieked and then slammed a fist on his desk. The wood under his hand released a sick buckling sound that made my stomach tighten, but I didn't allow my body to betray me: it would learn to obey my commands, but it took more effort than I wanted to think it would to keep the flesh steady. I kept my dark eyes level with his, my expression unyielding and my hair bristling like a wolf's haunches. We kept that stare for several seconds, testing each other's resolution. I don't break. "Get your pale ass out of my damn office," he hissed. "_NOW_!"

Under different circumstances, there's no way in hell I'd be one to just do as someone told, but leaving sounded like a better option than just launching my broken body at someone two times my size. At least for now.

I turned and vacated, closing the door behind me, and walked towards where I instinctively felt my room was.

Once I was recovered and had adjusted, I'd make him pay. No one just hit me with a chair. No one just screamed at me for no god-damned reason.

That was my first memory of my existence, this existence as Ryou Bakura's 'brother'.

That was 3 years ago.

* * *

And with that, the crap begins!


	2. Big Whoop

Chapter one of my craptastic Bakura fanfic. It's really raw and needs editing, but I am too lazy to do much about it. I really have no idea where this will go, since I've just handed the reigns to Bakura, and he's unstable at best…which is why I love him 3.

* * *

**CHAPTER 1: **"Big Whoop."

(Yami Bakura's POV)

Usually, it was Ryou who went to school, especially in the mornings. I wasn't a morning person. So I was surprised when I woke up to the sun blinding me, streaking through the window that Ryou just _had_ to put his bed next to. "I like waking up to the sun every day," he'd explained to me after I'd complained about it the first time I'd woken up in this situation. He was one of the very (VERY) few people in my existence that I humored, so I'd not complained about it since then. I rarely woke up in the mornings, anyways, but it didn't make the light any less bothersome.

Freaking sun.

I growled out a long-breath of exasperation and rolled over to turn my pale back to the light, burying my face in a blue pillow, but the screech of the damned alarm clock wouldn't shut the hell up. Ryou kept it in the bathroom. He knew that I'd eventually get up to turn it off, and that I wasn't the sort that could just crawl back into bed and go to sleep once I'd risen from the warmth of the sheets.

Damn him.

After a few minutes of the alarm driving me to close to madness, I rolled from the warmth of the covers and hit the floor. After lying there for another minute or so, I finally stood upright and stomped my way into the bathroom to shut the damn clock up (I like throwing it against the wall and making it explode, but he keeps buying new ones that look the same just to mess with me).

And with that out of my system, I start our morning routine.

Ryou always made life easier for me when he could manage. He knew I liked schedules (and thus hated it when that routine was broken, like waking up in the morning and having to go to class for him) so he made certain everything was ready for me, just in case. We couldn't always control which of us was awake, which was the most irritating and inconvenient thing about our little _situation_.

After grabbing a cold shower and toweling myself dry, I groggily padded into our bedroom to look around for Ryou's journal. The room was freshly cleaned, so it had probably been a few days since I'd last been awake. He wrote me notes and kept detailed journals about his daily activities so I'd know when I'd last been moving around and what had been going on in my absence.

Most of the time I could remember what he'd been up to, but the memories always took a few hours to get absorbed, especially in the morning. For whatever reason, Ryou never seemed able to remember anything that I did when I was awake, so I never told him that I often times remembered his life. That might upset him and I didn't especially want to see him crying again. The tell-tale sign that he'd been crying was the trash can filled with those freaking flower-pattern tissues he just HAD to buy. I always hated waking up to that.

His last entry was the night before and was a two-page long rambling about a test he'd been preparing for where he begged me to not skip class should I be awake for it. He also informed me of some god-awful lunch menu item never to try (apparently "it has the consistency of used gum"). The last couple of comments he made were of special interest, however. Mokuba had made a 'B' on his last English paper (and trust me when I say that's an improvement) and that tonight he planned on going over to help him with editing a report.

I still wasn't sure why Kaiba, Mokuba's older and work-obsessed brother, didn't just make the time to help him with that sort of crap. I didn't so much mind having to attend these little meetings. I mean, I sure as hell could be doing something better with my time, but we were being paid and money was key to getting our own place, so it was worth tolerating.

"There's some cut-up fruit for you in the fridge," Ryou added as a PS at the bottom of the page in his absurdly graceful script. I still don't know how his handwriting can look like so beautiful when mine was such chickenshit…chickenscratch…however you say it (it's early and I couldn't give a damn about some word we didn't have in my own era). "There's some leftover beef and veggies in there for lunch. I tossed in some goodies for you that I made last night. By the way, don't eat the pork." The word 'don't' was underlined twice in red gel-pen to exaggerate his warning. "It's been in there for a while and I don't need you to get me sick like last month. I'm hoping dad will eat it or something. Maybe he'll get food poisoning."

Ahh, 'daddy'.

I hadn't forgotten about _daddy_.

After stuffing my face with dry toast and throwing a cup of black coffee down my throat, I pulled on the school uniform Ryou had lying on the edge of the bed and grabbed his backpack before walking into the kitchen to hastily toss the food inside. I knew it was mine because Ryou had his name on the neatly prepared brown paper-bag in the fridge, a little heart carefully drawn under his frilly signature. I would have taken a moment to pause and frown at my other's feminine habits, but I was late, so expressing my displeasure would have to wait until later.

I sprinted out the door to go wait for the bus half a mile down the road. Traveling in a car had taken some getting used to, but Ryou's fondness for vehicles made it easier. Still, the bus wasn't my choice of transpiration. I was forced to sit with people I could barely tolerate, and on top of that I had to pretend to make light, useless conversation with them. The worst were the girls, who all seemed to feel the need to warm me up with their senseless dialogue about the mall and clothes and some movie I didn't care about. Nevertheless, Ryou was the one that had to go to class, so I did try to pretend to be him. I tried. And failed. Miserably.

By the time I got off the bus, some blonde was usually crying and I was being called various names by boys that pretended to care just so they could get in the girl's pants. I considered it a good morning when I made it to school without being pink-slipped for giving some preppy a black eye. This was a good morning—so far.

Ryou would write an angry note in his journal later after finding out what 'he' had done. I always flinched a little when he used words like 'disappointed'. I still don't know how a child like him managed to tame me. I suppose that _tame_ isn't the right word. More like….well…I can't think of any singular word that means 'get under my skin'.

The reason I existed was still up for debate. After that first night, he and I had spent months trying to figure out who I was and what I meant to him, and how we were related, and just…how to communicate. We knew of one another's existence, me more than him, but it took a while to figure out how to talk to one another. Ryou had been the one to figure out the whole 'note' thing, and it seemed to work. We were able to communicate through writing one another journals and notes of our experiences.

The current goal was to figure out who I was and how long I'd exist like this. Ryou had plenty of his own theories but he insisted that I was his 'brother' and that's often what he called me, 'niisama'. I just called him 'Ryou', but he didn't seem to be bothered by the lack of acknowledgement. I did tell people when I was awake that he and I were brothers, though (twins, to be more precise), mostly to keep up with his story, but it was getting progressively more difficult to convince people of that.

We'd decided a while ago that it was best I didn't attend his classes as myself because people would wonder why only one of us came at any time. When I did have to go, I just pretended to be Ryou until he woke up. He told people I was homeschooled and carried pictures of me in different clothes in his wallet as 'proof of my existence'.

The school counselor wanted Ryou to go on medication because she didn't believe that I existed—most people didn't seem to. They knew something was wrong with Ryou, but most people just assumed he was retarded or insane or whatever. As far as going on medication for our insanity, I'd never allow us to become a drooling zombie. We didn't _need_ medication. And besides, no medication existed to fix whatever fucked-up 'condition' we had. "Fuck her and her Psychology degree," I'd said after we'd gotten out of our meeting with the counselor, to which Ryou responded with another long letter about my social skills.

But they're probably right. He probably is just insane. It's one of those situations you hear about but never believe: 'what if we're all just people that exist in someone's dreams, and when they wake up, we'll disappear?' One of those shit-weird ideas that only other crazy people and druggies come up with.

That was _my_ theory, anyways, that I was just an 'imaginary friend'. He'd probably made me because he lacked everything I had: I'm strong, aggressive, and don't take the shit he used to digest on a daily basis. I can stand up for us. I can protect us. His mind is just trying to protect itself from completely breaking down. Without me, Ryou would have probably been turned into a complete mental-case by now by the beatings and emotional trauma he endured.

Being thrown in a looney-bin didn't seem like such a bad option when compared to what we went home to. I mean, they fed you there, right? Lots of free time, a bed, counseling. It didn't seem so bad, but I wouldn't allow Ryou to resort to that. He was already a fragile thing, and though I would probably be fine surrounded by whackos and suicidal maniacs, he wouldn't survive there.

So here I was—protecting us from everything he couldn't protect himself from.

That concept should probably freak the shit out of me, right? But it never did. In my own mind, I'd never existed before this (even if I did have what you could call 'memories' of what seemed to be a past life), so not existing didn't particularly _bother_ me. One day I'd just not wake up. I'd go back to that blue and yellow room and I'd not-exist there.

Big whoop.

It took effort to avoid Ryou's friends. The few times I was awake during class, I made an effort to ignore other people, mainly because I didn't want to piss Ryou off and send him into another angry-letter-crazed-spat. But Joey was always impossible to get around. No matter what the hell I did, he was there.

I hate blondes.

"HEY! Mornin', Ryou!"

I flinched at his grammar, slammed my locker shut, and turned my red-brown eyes to flatly stare at him. This is why I hate blondes: they're all far beyond my level of perk-tolerance. Joey Wheeler is also the poster-child for the 'dumb-blonde'. He's stupid as a nail, and I have even _less_ tolerance for morons than I do for perkiness. My eyes slowly tightened to express my distaste for his enthusiasm this early in the morning.

"Your eyes look a little red there, buddy," he frowned. "You not sleep well again?"

I didn't respond with anything more than my eyes tightening just slightly further. He never seemed to catch the subtleties.

Usually, the less-annoying, smaller one would show up sometime soon.

Wait for it…

"It's time for class, Joey! We're going to be late!"

Perfect timing.

This one, Yugi Mutou, was tolerable, far more so than most of Ryou's other friends. He was predictable, and I liked that. –Predictable, smart enough to hold an actual conversation, and small enough to punt if I felt the need to do so. If I had to speak to anyone, I tried keeping my conversations limited to this midget-statured teenager, but usually his 'twin' kept that from happening.

"Good morning, Bakura."

He too was predictably on-time, but he was far less digestible than Yugi.

I slanted my lanky body to look in the direction of the slightly taller twin and gave him a toothy grin just to throw him off. He's the only one around here who calls me by Ryou's last name, the one Ryou himself chose to call me, and I'm not especially fond of the way he says it. He always speaks that name like he knows something that other people don't, like maybe, just maybe, he's aware of who I really am. That's sort of interesting to think about, actually, that this brightly-colored jackass might know something about me, but I prefer to believe he's just being a leather-clad asshole with a mismatching voice to his stature and an ego larger than that ridiculous blonde and red hair he sported.

"Good morning, pharaoh." I like calling him that just because it seems to sincerely bother him. When exposed to his particular person, my entire existence in life is to bother him. I really would enjoy making him go as insane as he makes me feel when he's around. That would be nice, seeing him go crazy. I don't hate many people like I hate this guy, but he's pretty easy to manipulate, which is fun for me. Maybe someday I can get him to stab himself in the leg with his Algebra-compass or something. Goodie! A new goal!

In the meantime, I just wished that I could get rid of Ryou's skin so I could be myself and make this moron believe that I really WAS insane. That was another goal I'd set a while back, but it wasn't common that he and I crossed paths when I was allowed to be myself. Here at school I was strictly forbidden from making Ryou look too bad, so shanking the larger of the two midgets didn't seem like an option.

"You and your weird nicknames," the blonde commented. I imagined getting to throw him through a leaf-shredder and it made me feel a little better. "You need more sleep, Ryou!"

"Guyyys!" Yugi walked backwards towards the door of the homeroom, all the while tugging at his twin's arm while he just glared at me with his fuchsia eyes. "Claaass!"

It took a moment to will myself to feign a Ryou-smile and follow the bothersome team inside.

Forcing myself to be Ryou is impossible. I prefer to just pretend to be sick or especially 'shy' that day to avoid human contact. The only person in my existence that mattered was my other half, so I worked hard to keep him at least somewhat happy. Or satisfied, or whatever. My existence can't be easy on him, even if I do protect us from Zorc (and sometimes I can't even properly manage that). It's my fault that he's considered insane by so many people, and why he doesn't have many friends.

Sometimes I wish I could just go back to that hot. That seemed easier.

"You dazin' off again, buddy?" Joey's brackish voice never ceased to infuriate me. I wasn't in the mood to stomach the broken trash he spat out and called words. I stifled a growl as he leaned in close to inspect my ill-tempered expression. I was sitting at my desk, waiting impatiently for class to get the hell started so the morons would leave me the fuck alone. "You've been doin' that a lot lately. You should really try and pay attention more in class." Where the hell did he get that accent, anyways?

"This coming from a straight-D student with no future? Shut the hell up, Wheeler."

Joey spun around to snarl at the voice. "Don't pretend like you know me, Kaiba! You're just an asshole with a face!"

Seto Kaiba: now there was someone I could tolerate. He was direct, sarcastic, and didn't fall for bullshit. We'd barely spoken any words to one another in the last three years since Ryou and I had transferred here, but most of the time he just ignored us, like he did most people. His aura was tense, defensive, and aggressive—one I could relate to but was careful not to allow to cross much with my own. The one time he'd gotten too close to me I could see the hesitation in his eyes; he'd known something was different about Ryou that day. I had to be extra cautious around the too-observant brunette. He stepped lightly but I could always find his presence, even in a crowded room, and made sure I always knew his location before I moved.

I liked him because he was a lot like me, I think. And he was one of the few people in this freakishly strange class that I didn't want to tear a limb off of every freaking moment of the day.

Now I said I didn't care for blondes, but there is a blonde I don't mind: Marik Ishtar.

At that moment he was watching as his twin brother, Malik, worked on scraping gum from under his desk with one of his black fingernails. "Malik," he mumbled, "stop that. You'll get AIDS or something. You don't know where that shit's been." He watched with lazy and disgusted lavender eyes as his twin continued his administrations to remove the gum, not even bothering to move from his desk in effort to stop him when ignored.

Malik finally succeeded and tossed the purple and green thing into his mouth, which immediately caused a revolted groan to roll across the classroom. "What are you talking about? I put it here myself last week." Malik crawled back into his chair, apparently happy with his stiff, sticky prize. "Duh."

"Duh," Marik repeated, glancing away—more specifically, my way—and allowed a smirk to curl the corner of his lips upright. I could see his eyes glaze over with a lustful sheen and he gave a very low noise that made my hair bristle and blood flush to my face. My skin was so damn pale; it gave me away every damn time. I often had dreams in which my skin was darker: wishful thinking. "Good morning," he cooed and stuck out some of his pink tongue, "Ryou."

My body tensed noticeably but I couldn't break from his stare. He had this bothersome talent of forcing me to do things, even if I hated doing them. Trying to keep my 'Ryou' composure was failing faster than Wheeler had failed Algebra.

Marik was one of the better-dressed members of our class. He was fond of purples, violets, and golds, and always wore nicer clothing, usually a mix of a dressy shirt and casual pants. His hair was a sunny shade of blonde, well-kept and cut into layers. His fingers were manicured and his toes, when exposed, were obviously pedicured.

Where Marik was the more well-behaved and well-dressed brother, Malik was the opposite. He was a menace to freaking society, causing trouble everywhere he went in his grungy clothing. He was loud, aggressive, obnoxious, and pushy, but when he wasn't eating gum off tables or licking the floor, he wasn't so bad. I always enjoyed watching his antics and wondered what sort of drugs he kept stashed in his locker to keep this up all the time. Between him and me, I thought he needed more medication and therapy, but I hoped they never put him on any. I liked him like this, but I think I might have been the only one.

The brothers were Egyptians, transfers like Ryou and I, well-known for their different shades of beauty and shared 'whoreness'. They'd taken the school without much difficulty as far as popularity was concerned, with that golden hair, bronze skin, and crazy purple eyes. Their mere presence was enough to piss of Atem, which made them my instant best-friends-forever. Of course, my other half wasn't as inclined to spend time with them, and as such I rarely got the chance. It was probably for the best, for Ryou anyways. Every time the Ishtars and I hung out, Ryou ended up with an injury or sore ass (most often-times both).

Marik Ishtar was also one of only two people, not including my other half, that knew of my existence. Malik was too stupid to notice, at least, and for that I could be thankful. For the moment my secret was safe with the more stable of the Ishtar twins and the one other person that knew.

But he wasn't in this class.

In the background I could hear the high-pitched cries of the 'Pharoah' as he complained about Malik's crude behavior before shrilling when the blonde bit him on the arm. The drama was enough to snap my attention from Marik's lavender gaze. He frowned as I turned my eyes towards the other students and leaned back in my chair to watch with some amusement.

"You're a freak!" Atem shrieked, once finally getting free of the other teenager's mouth. "You have rabies or something! Go check yourself into a mental institution!"

Malik laughed and crawled back into his seat, replacing the used gum under his chair. "Mmm. I'll save that for later," he purred.

I watched the scene with some interest before my thoughts drifted back to Marik when he pawed at my arm. "You should come over tonight," he offered quietly, ignoring the stare Kaiba was giving us half-way across the room at the display. Marik never spoke to Ryou. Kaiba always made me so freaking nervous the way he picked up on little shit like that. I fidgeted a little in my seat but Marik continued to run his bronze fingers up and down my arm. "Malik's got a new porn to watch so he'll be preoccupied, and I bought a new knife yesterday. I think you'll like it."

I set my jaw. "You know Ryou said we couldn't see one another anymore."

Marik pouted a little and tilted his head so his golden earrings shimmered and chimed. Gold on gold: a distinctly intoxicating noise. "But he doesn't remember, right? I promise to be more careful this time… We can say you got into a fight or something."

I shook my head stiffly. "The last time you said that, Ryou ended up in the hospital with a knife in his shoulder."

"I just got overexcited, is all."

"You always get overexcited."

"But that's just because we get along so well," he whined softly, twisting some in his chair enough that Malik perked his head and watched us too.

I could feel several new pairs of eyes on me. I squirmed and jerked my arm away, unable to restrain my frustrated grunt from escaping. "Marik, stop it."

"Don't be such a pussy. Come over." His eyes widened wildly, causing me to lean further back in my chair. "I want to cut your fucking arm."

"Stop teasing poor Ryou!" Tea came to my defense, stomping over to glare at Marik, whom immediately leaned back to get as far from her as he could manage. I'd have done the same, but instead I just laid my face in my folded arms on the desk so I could drown out the room with the darkness. "You know he's sensitive!" I flinched a little at having to be protected by the 'friendship whore', but I'd prefer that over me giving Ryou away even more than I already had.

"Get the hell away from me, crazy bitch!" Marik squealed, shoving her shoulder.

"Don't you dare touch me!"

"What are you going to do about it? Sick the midget on me?"

Yugi sighed. He and I ignored the proceeding argument, which Joey managed to break up, but not without Malik biting him. I sort of hoped he did have rabies.

This little charade was becoming more difficult than I had imagined it would be to keep up. And the day wasn't even half over yet. The half-way point of the school-day was lunch, and I waited impatiently for the bell to ring so I could escape the insanity of my peers.

Where the hell was Ryou?

The rest of the day came and went with the typical drama playing out. Malik tried eating Atem's hair a couple of times, Tea ranted about shit I didn't care to pay enough attention to recall (though I'm certain it was 'friend'-related), Yugi remained quiet and didn't cause much of a fuss, and Joey (who I shall from here-on refer to as 'the dog') attempted to assault Kaiba with his pencil at least once. I failed at my daily goal of getting Atem to stab himself with his compass, but there's always tomorrow—the mood just wasn't right.

Usually Ryou would have woken up by now. He hated missing class, especially on important days, like today. We had a test, but I didn't have much trouble with it. Ryou had dutifully studied the night before and I had little difficulty recalling all the note-cards he'd made. An 'A' was never a challenge to make for Ryou, even when I was in control and had no idea on my own what I was looking at. Everything I thought, remembered, and did was a skewed reflection of my other half.

Ryou's detailed schedule instructed me that I was to head over to the Kaiba mansion after class to continue with the little-Kaiba's education. I growled under my breath at the purple calligraphy written in sparkly gel-pen and shoved the kitty-cat notebook back into Ryou's backpack. This was where my game got more challenging: I might have had Ryou's mind, but I could barely imitate him, and fooling Kaibas was difficult enough, particularly the older one. Even worse, writing required more than note-cards or text-book knowledge. I couldn't write very well and I had limited patience, so one might imagine how well tutoring went for me.

Lucky for the Kaibas, I happened to be somewhat fond of Mokuba, and that kept me from breaking his fingers when he _bitched_ during our sessions. He was mischievous but witty and I considered that enjoyable in my own way. We played pranks on Kaiba, which was always entertaining because he refused to punish Mokuba like he might other people, and I was 'never involved' of course. But even with the promise of a little patronizing the asshole, walking up to the mansion was never something I looked _forward_ to.

"Ryou!"

I tore my eyes away from staring at one of the aged gargoyles atop the side of the roof to drop them towards the familiar voice. "Hello there," I smirked down at the much smaller brother. I still wasn't sure what fucked up gene-pool could have produced this pair. They didn't look a thing alike and weren't similar in personality. The only things I could connect them by were the necklaces they both wore and their gallingly-sharp minds. "Is the prick home today?"

Mokuba shrugged and moved to let me in, drifting down the large entryway towards the primary Living Room area in which we always worked. I casually closed the massive door behind me to follow the smaller Kaiba towards our destination. "He's at another meeting, I think. I haven't seen him all day." Mokuba crawled into his chair at the table and smiled up at me, his short legs kicking in a way I might only describe as frivolous. "It's been a while since you last came to see me."

"I know."

He patted the chair beside him enthusiastically and I tossed my bag on the table before taking a seat, staring down at him with flat brown eyes. "Usually I don't see you until the evening before you leave," Mokuba commented, tilting his head. "Is Ryou feeling okay? Did you guys fight or something?"

Mokuba Kaiba was the second person that knew of our little secret. It had to be that way because he was so damn observant and had noticed our differences from the beginning. Ryou and I had decided together to be honest with him and I suppose it had been a good choice. He was good with secrets and seemed to find it a game of 'how long will it be before big brother figures it out?'. He'd kept our secret for the last several months and it was good to have someone I could be honest with, even if it was a child. At least it wasn't Tea or the dog.

"He just didn't wake up this morning." I pulled out Ryou's books, laying them out on the table. "According his journal, he was awake for three days, so that might be what's keeping him asleep. But don't try and snake out of this just because it's me." I gave a warning glare as he shot me a grin. "You're not getting out of your work. We're going to do as Ryou planned."

"Awww!" Mokuba sank in his chair and gave me his strongest dose of puppy-eyes. I was immune by this point and after several seconds of me glaring at him he sat upright again and pouted. "You're no _fun_ sometimes."

"I'm no fun _all_ the time," I corrected, sliding the book his way as he groaned. "Now stop your whining and get to work while I go find some food. I'm freaking starving."

"You can curse around me, y'know," he mumbled as I pushed from my chair and stalked towards the kitchen. "I'm not a kid. Big brother does it all the time."

"Stop your bitching and get to work, then."

"_Yaaay_!"

Not bothering to respond, I pushed the door to the kitchen open (careful not to hit myself this time because it was a swinging door and I'd slammed myself in the ass with it the first few tries). I loved this kitchen. Loved, loved it. It was clean, which wasn't my normal taste, but it was stocked with food. Any food. Lots of food. I'd learned months ago how to get around the place and immediately went to work on a massive sandwich, humming an Ozzy sung under my breath and wishing I'd thought to bring Ryou's iPod while Mokuba worked.

With the sandwich messily packed in my mouth, I shut the door to the fridge only to come face to face with a disgruntled Kaiba, who was frowning at me, arms folded to express his constant condition of _stick-up-the-ass_. I stared back at him for several awkward seconds as the silence sank in while waiting for him to break the silence himself. He always spoke first. This would normally give me a chance to gather myself for my Ryou act but, for whatever reason, Kaiba always made pretending more difficult than others did. I could feel his blue eyes bore into my soul, studying me from every angle, analyzing every one of my movements and words. I could see that pretending was nearly useless at this point, and my vacant expression reflected that as the other's face only grew tauter from my silence.

"Nice," he finally grunted. "You couldn't even bother to use a damn plate?"

I moved past him and ripped out the bite I'd had in my mouth, gnawing on it as I searched another fridge for something to drink. "You're now out of honey mustard."

Kaiba growled as I continued to dig through the fridge. "You're getting food all over my floor!"

"It's a _kitchen_." I slammed the door shut and held up a bottle of imported beer. "Ahh. I see you got the good stuff this time. Good boy."

Kaiba arched an eyebrow as I popped off the lid and leaned against the counter to take a drink. He continued to watch with his hollow, dissecting eyes as I took another large bite to finish off my sandwich, staring right back at him and mimicking his glare just to make him grunt. There wasn't any pretending around him so I decided not to care what he thought about Ryou at this moment. I'd finish my food and go back to the Living Room to be ignored by him again.

"I wasn't aware you drank."

I took another drink and sent him a sidelong glance, feigning disappointment as I worked to keep Ryou's voice at least somewhat normal. "Aren't you supposed to be at a meeting or something, Kaiba-kun?"

He hadn't moved since I'd first seen him, aside from an angle change. The expression remained stiff and I wondered how he'd respond if I dropped what scraps remained of my Ryou-act. I bet I could startle the older Kaiba brother. Freaking him out was added to my 'goals' list.

I suppose I must have gotten distracted by thoughts of how to make him spazz, because Kaiba managed to surprise me when he took a step forward and jerked the beer bottle from my hand. "Hey! What the _hell_?" I watched incredulously as he poured the golden liquid down the sink, staring straight at me with his hard blue eyes the whole time, and tossed the emptied bottle in a recycle bin. "What the shit are you doing?"

"I don't need you giving Mokuba any ideas. As much as it physically _nauseates_ me to admit it, he seems to look up to you for whatever reason. So keep your alcohol at home and get your pale ass back in there to do what I am paying you for."

I choked back a snarl but I could feel my hair prickling. There wasn't any way in hell that I was going to be able to keep this charade up for much longer. I didn't like being told what to do, especially from asshole know-it-alls like Seto Kaiba.

"You look angry." He gave me that little smirk of his, the one that always set the dog off in a mad rage with his pencils. I, however, preferred knives, and in this kitchen there was an especially high abundance of them.

"Nobody throws out perfectly good alcohol without _pissing me off_! Especially _my_ alcohol!"

"What's going on in here?" Mokuba poked his head inside but my eyes remained focused on the older brother, my rage gradually building to a breaking point. The whole day I'd been moving further to the edge of insanity, driven mad by the fucking morons in class, and I wasn't about to take Kaiba's shit, even if I did like him. Mokuba wailed and got between us before I could snap Kaiba's neck. "Big brother! I thought you were gone today!"

Kaiba only continued to stare at me, unamused by my building rage. "The meeting got canceled."

Something snapped. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was something important. "I'm going to fucking _kill_ you, pretty boy!"

"Is that so?" The way his blue eyes kept their collected stare in my direction as I opened a drawer to remove a knife only enraged me further. How could he keep so damn composed?

The thought occurred to me that he might in fact be a robot and that the only way to be sure was to try a hand at gutting him to see if wires or intestines spewed out. Or perhaps he had a little alien in his skull, controlling his actions. The alien had to die. Was it green? Green's an ugly color—the color of grass. Blech! I hate vegetables. Marik's a Vegan; I wondered if he remembered the time I switched his veggie-patty with a normal one that one time.

Kaiba tilted his head only just slightly enough to break my jagged train of thought. He reached out to try to take the knife from me while placing his other hand on his brother's chest to gently press Mokuba back in a protective sort of way. "Mine!" I snarled and jumped back, possessively pulling the knife back towards myself. Again he didn't seem surprised or startled or anxious. The way he was so relaxed all the time was just unnatural. "What the fuck _are_ you?" I demanded. "I hate aliens!"

"Alien life has yet to be discovered," he responded casually, still holding out a hand as though he expected me to just hand over the knife because he asked for it. God, he pissed me off. "So I don't think you have much to be concerned about just yet—unless you're one of the morons that counts bacterium as alien life."

"Big brother," Mokuba moved towards him a little and tugged at Kaiba's ridiculously over-the-top coat. I had always wondered where the hell that ostentatious piece of shit had come from. Did he design it himself? Did he have more than one—a whole closet of Kaiba-coats? Or just the one that he wore every day? How the shit did he keep it so damn clean? It was white, for fuck's sake! "You need to know something about Ryou."

"You keep your mouth shut, you little prick!" I waved the knife Mokuba's direction and I suppose that had been when caused Kaiba to actually move. He moved forward and caught my wrist, twisting it enough that a normal person might drop the knife. "Oh!" I hooted fanatically. "_Someone's_ got ballsy all the sudden!" I wheeled to claw at his face with my free hand but he somehow avoided me and got behind me, pulling the arm he had in his grasp behind me to pin me against the counter. I released a loud snarl and squirmed, but he was surprisingly strong. Sure, he was a head taller than I was and had a good thirty pounds on me, but I felt like I should have been able to just turn and tear his fucking arm off.

"Ryou isn't really just Ryou," the little snitch murmured as I continued to wrench and twitch and growl. "This is Bakura. He's Ryou's _brother_."

"You don't say?" How did his voice stay so fucking level all the time? Did it ever change? "Well, _Bakura_, how about you get your ass out of my mansion? I don't take kindly to threats."

I dropped the knife and yelped helplessly when he twisted my wrist. "You're a fucking dick!" I shrieked; it was the only think that I could manage to fart from throat now that he'd pressed my head against the side of the sink with his free hand.

"Don't hurt him!" Mokuba begged. "He's harmless! I swear!"

My squirming and shrieking upped their pace at the offense. Attempts to kick at him failed and I roared to express my growing rage.

"Harmless? He's a maniac."

"Only _sometimes_…"

"Mokuba, I'm not very inclined to tolerate the insane. I already have to live with the friend brigade's ridiculous shit at school. If I'd been aware of his instability, he'd never have been allowed near this house."

"He's not dangerous, I swear! He's never hurt me before!"

"He's foaming at the mouth, Mokuba." I snarled wildly, attempting once again to jerk free, giving howls in my inability to do so. How could someone so slender be so fucking strong? "It's time we either put him down or threw him out. Either way, he isn't coming back.

I turned my clouded eyes in the child's direction only to catch the pained expression on Mokuba's round face. He upturned his dark eyes towards Kaiba and I felt myself go quiet and still. "Please don't throw him out. He's my friend."

Kaiba seemed to process this for a long second as I somehow managed to remain motionless during this period. I wasn't sure what I was thinking or doing or saying by this point. Everything had just become a sort of instinctual response. I closed my eyes and focused on their conversation, willing my body to do as I told it.

"You pick fucking strange friends, kid," I chuckled after my thoughts had somewhat balanced themselves and growled again when my face was pressed against the counter.

"I can keep him under control!" Mokuba promised. I couldn't see Kaiba's expression, but I could only imagine it must have been a thoughtful one for Mokuba to look hopeful. "Honest!"

I shot him a glare, my thoughts suddenly returning to the books in the Living Room. "Did you get your homework finished?"

"I'm almost done with the written portion," the boy responded quietly, poking his index fingers together.

"You'd better get your skinny little ass back in there and finish your fucking homework before I stab you, you little shit! There's a test on Shakespeare next Thursday and if you fail it, Ryou won't be taking you bowling next weekend, go it? "

Mokuba giggled. What the hell was up with these two? "Right away!"

I chuckled with some degree of twisted approval when he ran out the door. "He's doing better, you know. I almost never have to threaten him to read his poetry anymore. He's gotten pretty good with his grammar-checking, too, but his handwriting could use some work. It's worse than my chickenshit."

"Chickenscratch."

I growled. "Whatever. So are you going to let me the hell up, or do I have to rip your arm off?"

"Don't pretend like you're not helpless. You can't even move."

"I'm just going easy on you because Mokuba's here."

"I guess I should be grateful, then," he teased before releasing me. I swirled around and snarled as I pinned him to the floor, glowering at him before eyeing the knife a few feet away. He remained unconcerned. "So you're Bakura. I can't say it's pleasant to make your acquaintance. Mokuba's talked a lot about you the last few months."

I stuck my tongue out, biting it as I considered reaching for the knife. "You a robot? I'd like to find out if you bleed."

"Being a robot would solve a lot of the problems this troublesome flesh brings about," Kaiba commented. "Sleeping and eating tends to get in the way of more important things. How bothersome."

"You shit too?" I tilted my head and flashed a toothy grin. "You seem too high-and-mighty to shit like a normal person."

"What condition do you have? There has to be a name for it."

"I bet it's all rainbows and flowers when you shit."

"I need to go find my Psychology books. This is going to bother me."

"Though, you seem too _stale_ to crap anything colorful or, god forbid, interesting. I bet you're all grey-tone in there."

"I'm sure I can get some medication to help rid you of your disorder." Kaiba seemed genuinely interested in my instability at this point. His eyes focused hard on mine, slapping away part of my insanity as I focused back on his. The blue eyes gave my thought some leverage to regain composure…again. "Which of you is the real personality? How many are in there?"

"It's just Ryou and I," I replied, my expression beginning to relax. "I think. He came first. I'm just a figment of his imagination."

"I see. You're a figment of his imagination?" he repeated. I nodded. "Well, maybe you could get your figmental _knee_ out of my crotch and let me up." I sat back, running a hand through my wild hair in vain effort to clean it up. There was some lettuce in my bangs that I picked out and flicked away. How long had that been there? Kaiba stared at me, his eyes pinching in deep consideration.

I leaned back, pulling my lip up. "Stop it with the staring. It's fucking freaking me out."

"I see you're voices are different."

"You can't see a voice," I corrected.

"Touché. So you're obviously different in actions, and your mind even twists enough to change your voice when you switch personalizes." He seemed to really be working hard on figuring out what was wrong with us. I scratched lazily at the lettuce in my hair, getting irritated when I kept finding more. "That's not uncommon for people with multiple personality disorders."

"We don't have a _disorder_," I growled. "I won't be here forever."

"Why not?"

"I'm only here until he's able to take care of himself."

"He couldn't before?"

"He's a pussy." Kaiba chuckled at that. It was the first sign of real expression I'd ever see him make, and I chuckled back. "I have to protect him—us."

"From what?"

My expression flattened. "It's none of your damn business, _Seto_. I'm here to tutor your brother. Well, Ryou is. After graduation we'll have enough money to get out of here, and after that, I'll be gone too."

"So whatever causes you to exist is a local stimulus."

My eyebrow twitched. "Stop dissecting everything I say and pretending like you understand everything, because you don't. You know nothing."

He only seemed more interested in my responses. "Are you always such a homicidal maniac?"

"Not usually." I was now picking at a scab on one of my arms. "But know-it-all assholes usually tend to get me a little riled up."

He smirked again before going back to serious-mode. "You realize I won't be able to trust you being alone with Mokuba. From now on, I'll be attending your little _sessions_."

"Sounds like _super-happy-fun-time_ has commenced," I smiled, widening my eyes somewhat spastically to see if I could get a reaction. Which I didn't. Dammit. Having failed at my attempts to rile him up, I returned to my irritated snarl. "I won't hurt him, you know."

"I can't exactly take your word for that, now can I?"

So now there were three people who knew about us.

Things were about to get interesting.

* * *

Mehhhh… I'd not intended for him to have a spazz-attack in this short story. Apparently, Bakura felt otherwise.

Not sure what will happen, but we'll see, I guess. I'm about 3 pages in to the next chapter, so it should be posted in the next several days. It depends on how much stuff I have going on this weekend.

Like I said, it's nothing amazing, but I'll keep posting updates, anyways, mostly for my friends that don't seem to mind the inspirational farts that are my short stories :D;;


	3. Piddlies or HooHoos?

Chapter two begins! Not much happens here, but I had fun with it, anyways. I think I am going to have some crack-pairings in this fanfic sometime in the near future…

Anyways! Bakura goes to lunch and has a fun-filled conversation with Seto while Malik molests people and Yugi watches. Ahh, good times. And where are the teachers in all of this? I don't really know, but I am sure Marik had something to do with their absence.

* * *

**Chapter 2: **_Piddlies or Hoo-Hoos?_

(Yami Bakura's POV)_  
_

Two days passed and there was still no sign of Ryou. Life passed slowly. Every day I went to class, took notes, ignored the dog, tried to ignore Kaiba now that he was watching me more intently than before, turned the blonde whore down, came home late after eating out, updated my journal, and went to bed. During all of this, I had to work harder and harder to keep Ryou's composure.

Existing was an exhausting process.

Today was Friday. _TGIF_, I guess.

Sloppy Joe's were on the menu today. Under normal circumstances I'd be more than happy to divulge in such a messy meal, especially when Marik got visibly nauseated just by being in the cafeteria with one (he'd left the room after seeing the dog eat 5 of them consecutively, though he'd returned since he couldn't leave Malik alone), but my concerns for my lighter half were too heavy on my thoughts to enjoy it.

I hadn't had any _freak-outs _since my little episode the other night at the mansion. What caused it, I wasn't positive, but I was pretty sure it wasn't the alcohol. Maybe I was going insane, after all. Well, I never doubted that I was insane, but more-so than usual, anyways. Whatever it was had seemed to subside for the moment. Kaiba's presence agitated me, sure, but I didn't understand how it might have been enough to throw me off the ledge like that. I'd never lost control that badly before.

"You okay, Ryou?" Yugi was eyeing me with concern, holding his white-bread turkey sandwich in his little hands. He had a purple Dark Magician lunchbox opened with his food neatly placed inside the way he had every day. He was always reliable to have a sandwich, banana, a bag of chips, and a bagged-snack in that tin container of his. Atem was sitting beside his twin, as usual, nursing his lunch. He drank a Slim Fast everyday and seemed to prefer the strawberry flavor. "You seem distracted today," Yugi mused; "more than usual."

"I haven't been feeling my best the last couple of days," I replied in my best Ryou-voice while picking at my food, "that's all."

Yugi looked legitimately concerned. Even Atem glanced my direction—he did, after all, consider Ryou to be his friend, though he seemed to catch our differences because he always avoided me more than I remember him doing with my other half. Which was fine by me. "You should go see the nurse," he suggested while giving me a timid smile.

"It's probably just a bug or something." I didn't like doctors or nurses or hospitals or any of that shit. I didn't trust anyone who knew how to replace my liver. It just didn't see natural to me. Besides, I was just tired. Ryou needed to come back, already. Because our 'souls' rotated, we didn't need much sleep. This shared body did need some, however, so we managed 3-4 hours a night, but when one of us failed to wake up after a few days, the lack of rest always made us exhausted. You would think sleeping more would help, but it never did.

"You're sure? I could walk you up there after lunch if you'd like," he offered.

"It's nothing to be concerned about."

"If you're sure…"

"It's just been a long week." A very long, testing, grueling week.

Yugi nodded, not so much agreeing with me but showing his steadfast support. I could always sense how he was so genuinely concerned about my well-being and it threw me off. It shouldn't; he was Ryou's friend after all, but…not _mine_. If he knew me, I doubted he'd be so supportive.

As for Atem, he'd probably try to have me put in a loony-bin. He was already bad enough with Malik around, though I didn't think I'd gotten to Malik's point just yet. The blonde Egyptian was currently cursing at the soda machine in what I could only imagine was an attempt to bully it into giving him a free drink. Marik stared onward with bored lavender eyes before giving me a flirtatious little wave when he caught me watching. I turned away, my brown eyes settling on another figure on the other side of the room.

Kaiba always sat by himself at lunch and never ate anything. Not a thing. I had never seen him eat, come to think about it, but I bet he only ate personally-prepared items that had price-tags higher than a day of minimum-wage work. He sat there, either staring at nothing particular, closing his eyes (sleeping, perhaps), or texting on his slick black cell phone, all while crossing over at least one arm to show his distaste for life.

He always watched me, so it was fair game for me to watch him. I did enjoy observing the way he moved: everything was so planned, so meticulous. I don't think he did a thing without thinking through the process at least ten times and examining all the possible outcomes of the action. I was also able to do this, but more often then not I'd get distracted by one of the outcomes and thought on it for too long, and by the time I'd picked one, the moment had already passed. Again, I was the opposite of Ryou, who always seemed to know what he wanted and acted when the timing was perfect.

After a few minutes of my surveillance, he turned his gaze to meet my own and finally noticed I'd been studying him. We both kept the same disinterested expressions and it became a game to see who would look away first. It was a game I played with him several times before and I'd become an expert on how to break him. After about three minutes of staring, I slowly stuck the tip of my tongue from my mouth and wriggled it in his direction. His brow tightened and he turned his head to stare at nothing again. I won but was a little disappointed. I hadn't figured out exactly what color his eyes were yet. Not navy, and ultramarine was too bright…

"I wish Kaiba would come sit with us," Yugi broke the silence. "He always looks so lonely, sitting over there by himself like that every day…"

"Screw Kaiba." Atem folded his arms and gave a bitter huff, now finished with his pink lunch-in-a-can. "He's better off without any friends. I don't think he's capable of actually caring for anyone, anyways."

"_Atem_," Yugi sighed. "That's not very nice. Why do you have to say things like that?"

I was pretty sure Atem was wrong. Kaiba cared immensely for Mokuba, which proved he was capable of expressing actual emotion, though I wasn't sure how likely it was that he might express that for someone outside of his little 'family unit'. Ryou thought Kaiba was lonely. He'd even tried being friendly with the taller teenager on more than one occasion but had only succeeded in getting ignored. Nevertheless, I was sure he was capable of it. Kaiba just _chose_ not to care, and that I could respect.

I kept watching him as though he were still back staring at me and mostly ignored the discussion the red-heads were having. Kaiba didn't move, speak, and his blinking was done in calculated intervals, but I still found him more interesting than most the other people in the cafeteria.

"I wonder if he'd be against us going over there and sitting with him?" Yugi considered aloud to himself.

His twin slapped his thin forearms on the table and sent Yugi an appalled expression, the left side of his mouth twisting a little. "Are you insane? What good would _that_ do?" Atem sat his chin in his small hand, his lips curving downward into a perfect frown. His eyeliner-caked eyelids drooped just slightly as he imagined the aftermath of his twin's suggestion. "He doesn't deserve to be our friend," he scowled. "We've tried that before, and I shouldn't have to remind you of how well _that_ went."

"I don't think we should count you grabbing his ass and asking him on a date as asking him to be our friend," Yugi mumbled. "People don't tend to take fondly to being molested, you know. Why can't you just say 'hello' like a _normal_ person?" the smaller twin scowled. "You make it hard to make friends, you know!"

Atem frowned and poked at his brother's unpeeled banana to leave a bruise, causing Yugi to whine in protest. "Shut up." The Mutou twins were almost as fun to watch as the Ishtars, sometimes, and it was for this very reason that I permitted them to sit with me at lunch (just so long as they didn't bring the rest of the friendship-brigade with them). "He'd just get up and move somewhere else, anyways," the model grumbled while adjusting his leather bracelet. "Seto Kaiba is determined to die alone, and I think we should respect his wishes."

I stood, unintentionally causing both the brothers to stare up at me.

"Where are you going?" Atem demanded as I moved towards the other table.

"Stay, or you'll run him off." I left my tray behind as I meandered towards the 'only Kaibas are allowed here, so everybody else fuck-off' section.

"_Hey_!" Atem's eyes were wide with shock. He stood, slamming his hands on the table, his mouth dropped as I blatantly walked towards Kaiba. "He's abandondng us for the prick! Can you _believe_ this? Who does he think he _is_, striding over there like that? Like it's nothing?"

Yugi's mouth twisted and he hooked Atem back into his chair with a few of his little fingers. "Pipe down and stop causing a scene," he scolded. "Ryou's just trying to be nice. Kaiba does seem to have a higher tolerance for him than for any of us, so don't ruin it." Yugi leaned around the still stunned Atem to watch me casually slide next to the billionaire.

Kaiba didn't look at me as I sat next to him, but when he spoke there was a specific sound of distaste in his voice. "And just what do you think you're doing?"

"Using you as a source of amusement." I reached over to take the apple off his plate of untouched food and bit a large chunk from its side. "They're talking about us, you know. I think the bigger one's jealous. Does he have a thing for you or something? You guys haven't messed around, have you? Because if you have, I have dibs on the details of how _that_ worked out." The pharaoh was pretty small, and Kaiba was a six-foot monster, so they'd have to use a chair or bed or ladder or something. "I bet he's a screamer," I surmised thoughtfully, amused by the images flickering in my head.

"Stop being a child." Kaiba's blue eyes rolled before falling to his cell, which was spastically vibrating and flashing on the table.

"If you kept that in your pants, it'd be more fun," I grinned. "At least for me to watch."

He turned it on silent and shot me blue daggers. "Don't make me stab you with a plastic fork."

"Awww," I smiled. "You _like_ me."

"I tolerate you."

"That's as good as _like_ in Kaiba-talk."

He turned his eyes towards me and I began my inspection of their color again, focusing on the irises. It was sort of like trying to stare at the sun to figure out what color it was, and I could only handle so much before looking away to keep my eyes from burning out. Instead, I returned my attention to his phone while scouring Ryou's memories for something that matched that blue. It needed a name, and it would bother me until I gave it one. I seemed to have an unexplainable fixation with color. I'd put that thought in a note to Ryou once but he never seemed to figure it out, either, so I chose not to question my insanity and just continued naming things, like Kaiba's eyes.

"So, who loves you enough to text you so often?" I asked.

"Useless people."

"That's a lot of people." He sighed in apparent agreement. "How'd Mokuba's paper go?"

"He got a B."

I frowned. He'd have done better with Ryou around. Kaiba eyed me curiously and I leaned back a little in my chair under the weight of his hard gaze. Not many people could make me back away, but Seto Kaiba was one of them. I am pretty sure if I got Malik to spoon his eyes out that Kaiba would still be just as intimidating, but at least I'd be able to study his eye color a big more often. "_What_?" I spat. "Back to the _staring_ at me again, are we? Don't think I haven't noticed that, by the way."

"You drop your act when you're with me," he observed. My stomach twisted. "You're lucky your little friends aren't close enough to hear the change in your voice. You should be more careful about that."

"What the fuck do _you_ care?" I grumped. "And they're not my friends." I took the pudding cup off his plate to open it and spoon some of the sticky white material in my mouth, granting him a sidelong glance as he eyed me. "They're Ryou's friends. Mostly. I think the dog and Yugi are, anyways."

"I care because if people find out that you're insane that they'll probably separate you from actual society and Mokuba will have lost his tutor."

I pouted a little and finished off the pudding before tossing it on Kaiba's plate and eyeing the rest of the food. "You can always get another tutor." The mac-n-cheese looked a little orange for my tastes, and I didn't eat vegetables, so the peas were off the menu. "Don't pretend like that's the reason you're protecting me."

He stiffened. "Who said I was _protecting_ you?"

How cute. He was getting defensive. "Calm down, Bright Eyes." He frowned heavier and I smiled. "If you'd like, I could hug you and _really_ make people think I'm Ryou."

"Do it and die," he glowered.

I smirked, waving a hand a little in consideration. "I have to say, it's tempting, why with you being so damn _huggable_ and all. And Ryou's always so affectionate with everyone and everything. –I think he'd try hugging a _bear_ if he were attacked by one. That bear wouldn't stand a chance against Ryou's hugs. I think if I ever had to go camping, I'd bring him, just in case those bears get any ideas."

Kaiba seemed to patiently allow my thoughts to process and pass before he spoke again, keeping his expression as blatantly unamused as possible. "Don't think I like you just because Mokuba likes you."

"I wouldn't change our relationship, anyways," I smirked. "Arguing is far too much fun."

Before he could respond, both of our attentions were snatched up at the sound of Atem' girlish wails. Malik had him pinned to the cafeteria floor and was licking the side of his face, and no one made a move to stop the scene from playing out. The group all just stood there and watched with some degree of amusement, even Tea, who was normally the savior in these situations.

"Get off of me, you _beast_!" Atem screamed. He was wriggling violently under the larger teenager, completely helpless to remove his weight. The model kicked his thin legs and scraped his boots on the tiled floor, making them squeak and cry out as his shoes left black marks, but it did him little good. "_RRRAAAGH_! Remove yourself this _instant_!"

"That's what _she_ said," Malik chuckled, tilting his head and flashing a somewhat creepy grin that made Atem give another horrified cry.

"Stop _licking_ me! Oh god! His breath smiles like the inside of a _sewage_ pipe! Why doesn't anyone _help_ me? –YUGI!" Yugi was the most amused of the group, with a hand covering his mouth as his tiny body quaked to keep in his laughter. "Are you _laughing_?" the larger twin shrilled before being licked yet again.

"Mmm," Malik purred and nipped at Atem's neck. "You taste like _strawberries_… I'd like to cover you in cream and lick it all off."

Atem shrieked again, kicking and squirming and writhing violently, but he wasn't getting anywhere fast. Malik kept the teenager on the floor with ease. "This isn't funny! He's going to rape me!"

"Don't be ridiculous." Marik sipped at his orange soda as he watched his brother molest his nemesis like it was a bad movie. "Malik doesn't have sex without whipped cream," he explained rather nonchalantly.

"Anyone have any whipped cream?" I called. The pharaoh gave a strangled cry and my day got a little better.

"I think that's enough now…" Tea laughed nervously when Malik turned his crazy gaze in her direction. She took a step back when his purple eyes dilated. "How…how about we let him up now, hm? Game's over, right? ….Right?"

Malik continued to stare.

"I think he likes you," Marik smirked thoughtfully and tilted his face. "You're not wearing vanilla-scented body mist, are you?" She nodded a little and his smirk grew. "Malik likes vanilla, _don't_ you Malik?" The Egyptian turned his head towards his twin, smiling darkly before his brother leapt off Atem and began his chase after the screaming girl out of the hallway. "Yup. He likes vanilla."

I'd have to remember that detail. I'd never heard it before, but it did explain his fixation on vanilla ice-cream.

"Will she be…all right?" Yugi blinked at Marik.

He shrugged and tossed his empty soda can in the trash. "Malik's never killed anyone he's molested in the past. I think it's just a hit-and-run sort of deal."

Yugi just stared at him wide-eyed.

Atem gave groans and angry grunts as he got up before proceeding to glare at the crowd of his so-called friends, but none of them paid attention to his drama. "All of you just _stood_ there! You would have watched him _rape_ me, wouldn't you?"

"Calm down, buddy. I don't think he means any harm," Joey chuckled when Atem shot him a glare.

"Yeah. He's never actually _raped_ anyone before, right, Marik?" Yugi smiled in the blonde's direction but Marik gave no response. "…I am sure she'll be fine!" He moved towards the trash can, removing the soda Marik had thrown inside to place it gently in the recycle bin while Marik watched him.

"Malik might seem malicious," I pitched in, "but he's harmless in most situations. Sure, he's insane," there was no denying his instability, "but he's only violent when he feels threatened. The worst he'll do is gnaw on her face until he gets bored."

For whatever reason, they seemed to take my word for it and went back to their lunches.

"Will he really rape her?" Kaiba was looking down the hallway, trying to hear any sounds of her fighting the blonde off. I didn't find him startled or concerned as much as curious. The uniqueness of the Kaiba brothers never ceased to intrigue me.

"Naa. He's gay." I sipped at Kaiba's milk, having helped myself to his lunch tray in its entirety. It looked better than mine, even if it was the same thing I had on my plate at the other table. Somehow his food just tasted better. "_Really_ gay. She's safe. …Probably."

"Is that so?" He stared down at his plate now that I'd taken it over but didn't seem especially agitated. "How about the other one? Is he gay too?"

"Marik? Why?" I finished the milk off. "I never thought you'd be in to that sort of thing." He snarled a little and I gave him my best Ryou-smile. "If you must know, and I get the feeling you think you _must know_ everything, Marik is bisexual," I answered before flashing him a cattish grin. "What about you, Seto? Do you like piddlies or hoo-hoo-shoots?"

He snarled. "Why are you so incessant of perverting everything into some sarcastic joke?"

"Because I'm good at it," I smirked. "And why are you avoiding my question about your sexual orientation?"

"Because it's none of your damn _business_," he defended.

He was progressively turning redder. I'd never succeeded in making him blush before. My accomplishment had me pressing my luck to see what else I could manage. I leaned in close to his face, lowering my voice so only he could hear me. "I'll share if you share."

"I don't care to know about your business."

He remained still, so I did too, keeping my lips close to his ear so allow my breath to run against the side of his face. Kaiba could pretend to ignore it, he could even pretend like it was pissing him off, but I still caught sight of that deepening shade of red. I decided I liked that color and I'd name it later. "Come on," I purred. "Share with the class."

"Back off," he barked and finally shoved at my shoulder with one of his hands.

I chuckled and didn't even bother to notice the eyes staring at us from around the cafeteria. My focus was on the brunette. It was only him and me in the whole room, as far as I was concerned, and I wasn't about to let him just shrug me off. I wasn't Ryou.

I leaned back again and this time managed to make him move away from me. "Don't be such a pussy," I mumbled up at him, still smirking. "You embarrassed? Or are you just asexual?"

"That would be nice, if that were possible," he grunted.

"So which is it? You're not getting away from me as easily as you do others. You don't even have to say it out loud. For once in your life, be fucking creative," I challenged. "Use innuendo or something."

"I won't play your little perverted games."

"You're such a stick-in-the-mud." He didn't respond to that because I knew he agreed.

"Mokuba needs you to come over and help him with some work this evening."

I hated how he changed subjects to avoid things he found distasteful (which was a lot of things) but I played his stupid little game. "I'll come over after dinner."

"You'll go with me after school."

I frowned. "What makes you think you can just order me around like that? Who do you think you are? _Marik_?"

"Because I am paying you, and you have nothing better to do with your time."

"How do you know what I am doing with my time? I could be saving orphans or fetching kittens from trees or helping old ladies across the street. You don't know me, so stop pretending you understand anything that I say or do. And stop ordering me around. Ryou takes your shit, but I don't have to."

"…Are you finished with your childish little diatribe?" I stuck my tongue out, refusing to allow him to make me go mad again. "You're coming home with me." It wasn't so much as an offer as it was a statement of fact that I couldn't refuse. "I'll pay you double your normal wage."

I tilted my head, scanning the statement thoroughly in effort to dig out what truths were buried in that little nugget, but I got distracted by the color of his eyes again and couldn't finish through with the thought. "You want me that bad, hm?"

He shifted a little; somehow my statement had succeeded in bothering him. "I don't have time to assist him this afternoon."

"More lame-ass work and useless people to call?" He nodded. "Fine. Whatever."

The lunch bell rang and we all got up to head back to the hellhole that was fifth period. None of us seemed to especially care what had happened to Tea or Malik because nobody said anything as we filed out of the cafeteria. I fell in step behind Kaiba without thinking about it, staring at the back of his head, Yugi and the rest right behind me.

I decided his eyes are 'Seto-Blue' because neither Ryou nor I had seen a blue that color before. It was unique, like him, and I was positive I'd never see that shade anywhere else but in his irises. That wouldn't stop me from looking, though. I also decided that I'd make up a Seto-blue acrylic paint, that way I could paint random shit in his house that color just so something would match him. I thought I'd feel a little better seeing it somewhere else besides his eyes.

Now I had to find something that matched his hair.

* * *

END!

Plotting the next chapter. I made this one shorter than the last one to make up for how _immense_ it was. Have lots of ideas to make Bakura pissed at me. I love him, and I love teasing him—almost as much as I love harassing Atem. Poor Atem. You know, he needs a little fanfic of his own to retribute him from being such an _ass_ (if that's possible). I'm mostly finding him humorous, though.

I am really taking a liking to Yugi. It's probably because he's so _normal_ when compared to everyone else in this cast and he can make 'normal' observations. We'll see how long that lasts.

Anyways, I'll work on finishing the next chapter. It's finally getting to the actual core of the plot. Took long enough to get there. Damn Bakura… He likes taking his time.


	4. I never did get that smore

Just under 7,500 words! I had to start another chapter well before I'd planned on this one cutting of…drats. And I got sort of lazy with descriptions, so I think parts of it read sort of flat… Oh well. I am too lazy to go back and add more now.

I've already started on chapter 4 so hopefully I will be finishing it soon. I keep on getting distracted by side-plots and background pairings (which I will be posting separate stories of under the same series/universe title).

Thanks to everyone for their comments and favs and subscriptions! I am glad a few people out there are enjoying it (almost as much as my roommate; I'll stand there and talk about the plot for hours and we just keep laughing)!

Anyways, just a bit of a filler chapter. Bakura's going back to help Mokuba study and ends up staying longer than he'd initially planned to. No good can come of Bakura being in the Kaiba mansion for any extended period of time!

Here comes the crap! HUZZAH!

* * *

**Chapter 3**: _I never did get that smore._

(Yami Bakura's POV)_  
_

I am not especially fond of cars, nor of being flashy, so getting inside of Kaiba's freaking ostentatious black limousine parked right outside of the school wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I would have made more of a fuss, but I knew it wouldn't help me any, so I just mumbled my complaints and climbed inside to park my ass on the leather seat. At least we weren't going in that damn Blue Eyes jet monstrosity. I swore to myself I'd destroy that thing someday when Kaiba was especially preoccupied. Framing someone would be imperative, however, so I was still on the drawing-board with that plan.

Traveling in vehicles was always a little uncomfortable for me. Ryou was fond of cars, so I focused on his feelings to help dampen my own anxiety. As Seto slid in behind me to shut the door, I closed my eyes and folded my arms, working to make it look like I didn't especially care about the situation while remaining irritable. The irritable part came pretty easily (I was being forced to do this, after all) but the looking relaxed part, not so much.

"You afraid of cars or something?"

I snapped an eye open to glare at the smirking billionaire when the car started to move. My stomach immediately lifted into my throat, so I focused harder on memories of Ryou enjoying weekend rides with his mother and sister in the countryside, ignoring the fact that they weren't alive anymore. "Am I not allowed to just sit here quietly, like a good dog?" I growled in his direction. "Or do you have a hoop you'd like me to jump through? Because you'd better have a damn Scooby Snack or I'll rip your freaking arm out if its socket."

Kaiba only flashed a grin, making me growl again. "Relax. You should enjoy the ride. Not many people get to experience this sort of luxury."

"Oh, yes. I should feel so _honored_ to be your personal tutor-bitch. Please, oh great Seto Kaiba, show me the ways of the rich asshole's pet. I should warn you though: if I don't get walked regularly I'll eat your neighbor's cat and piss on their lawn."

He only chuckled and I snorted, looking away. I immediately regretted breaking my eyes from his, however, because I found myself staring right out the car window. I dropped my eyes to the floor and tightened my arms as I felt my hair bristle. _Damn it_… Why was this so unnerving? It was embarrassing, being so thrown off by a damn car. Even _more_ embarrassing was my fear of open-water. I'd woken up on the beach once and suffered a panic attack. Ryou never went back after that, which is a little sad, because I knew how much he loved the beach.

Existing was always such a freaking chore.

"You really _are_ nervous." His voice was observant and level, kissed with a bit of surprise. "Aren't you?"

I lifted my head enough to growl in his general direction, my teeth bared. "Shut the hell up!"

Kaiba's head was titled ever so slightly upwards in deep consideration of something. He was probably trying to think of various ways to torture me, now that he was aware of my anxiety.

My stomach sank a little more and I released another sick groan, my eyes falling back to stare at the floor.

"We could always slow down," the brunette asshole suggested.

"Just get us to the damn freaking house and stop spewing your false pity!"

He didn't respond and I could tell he'd dropped the subject.

I just wanted to get this day over with.

_ -SWITCH SCENE-_

"Hey, Bakura!" Mokuba came running out to meet us on the stone driveway. Kaiba was busy talking with the driver and I was standing a good several feet from the black vehicle, glad to be standing still. "Seto told me that you'd be coming home with him today." I was never certain why Mokuba was so enthused to see me. It could have been because we were similar in some mischievous ways, but something about his smile was almost as unnerving as the damn limo had been.

"He said you have some work you need to do."

"Yeah. He's gonna be really busy tonight," Mokuba sighed," so he can't join us. But hey, it shows he trusts you more now, leaving us alone again!"

I just nodded a little, having become distracted by a large tree with yellow flowers. It hadn't been there last week and didn't look local. It shouldn't surprise me; Kaiba enjoyed flying in rare plants and trees. I didn't recognize the tree species, so I worked on trying to label the yellow, instead.

Ever since my initial _spazz_, Kaiba had attended my and Mokuba's afternoon 'lessons'. He'd mostly just sat there with his arms crossed, boring his Seto-Blue eyes into my freaking _soul_ from across the oak table we always sat at. It might have been considerably distracting, if I actually did any real work during that time. How Mokuba was so accustomed to his brother just sitting there and watching him for hours without moving, I didn't know, but I guess he'd had a few more years than me to grow a Seto-Tolerance. Personally, I'd rather work on a tolerance for _cobra-venom_ or something than have someone like Seto Kaiba breathing down my neck for two hours a night.

"And we'll have fun without him, right?"

Since when could we have fun _with_ him? "After you finish your work."

He pouted but I only smirked at his sad attempts to break me. Once Mokuba decided I wasn't going to cave under the weight of his dark eyes, he switched methods. "Has Ryou woken up at all?" I shook my head. "Weird. Maybe he'll show up tonight."

"Perhaps. Now stop stalling and get your ass inside. We have work to do."

Mokuba nodded and smiled, waving back at his brother as he grabbed my hand to pull me indoors. I didn't especially mind being pulled around by the boy. He knew his way around better than I did, and I was still preoccupied with staring at the yellow flowers on the tree. They were goldenrod-yellow, I think. "We'll see you later, Seto!" he called. Kaiba only responded with a nod before he roamed off to another _exciting_ business meeting.

I got the feeling that sometimes his existence was more exhausting than my own.

_ -SWITCH SCENE-_

"All done!" Mokuba announced, dropping his pencil and leaning back in his chair. He giggled empathically in triumph as I scooped the papers up to glance them over. I really just pretended to proofread any of his work—Ryou was the tutor, not me.

"Looks like you finished," I concluded and then dropped the papers to return my attention to the blue sucker I was finishing off.

While Mokuba had been working for the last hour, I'd been busy studying a painting of his brother that hung over the over-extravagant brick fireplace. It was an older painting, by Seto-standards. I recognized the purple coat he'd worn a couple years back and remembered how glad I'd been when he'd changed to the white one (purple wasn't his color at all). He was looking especially 'I pwn your ass with my money and good looks' in this one. I'd decided about forty-five minutes back into my study that I really hated this painting. Mostly, it was that coat that ruined it. I couldn't care much less about his 'I rule the world' face (even if it _was_ particularly douche) and the painting itself was a well-done Renaissance-style work in rich oils. It was just that damn coat. Destroying it was put higher up on my to-do list, maybe even above destroying his freaking ridiculous dragon jet thing.

Mokuba leaned into my field of vision, his black eyebrows lifted high on his face. "Yes?" I mumbled, irritated that my thought process had been broken. "Can I _help_ you?"

"You like my brother or something?"

I nearly spat out my sucker. "What?" I choked. The reaction was more out of surprise than anything. Me, like Seto? _Pfft_. "Where the hell did _that_ come from?"

"You've been staring at that picture for almost the entire hour."

My face was burning, and I was pretty sure it wasn't from facing the fireplace. "I've just been thinking about all the ways I could destroy that damn purple jacket of his. It's a menace to society, that purple." I growled up at the painting and pointed my sucker at it accusingly. "Freaking _royal purple_! Seto doesn't look good in that color at all!" I turned my now crazy eyes towards Mokuba, who only seemed bemused over my fit. "Tell me where the damn coat is! It has to die!"

He smiled then and began to walk backwards. "I know where it is," he winked. I stood and began to follow him, my expression still enraged. "I'll show you. You really wanna destroy it?" I nodded darkly. I couldn't exactly be sure what expression I was wearing at this point, but it seemed to amuse Mokuba, who only chuckled and turned to begin running down the hallway. "Come on!"

_ -SWITCH SCENE-_

"Seto's gonna be _maaad_…"

"I feel better," I folded my arms, smirking proudly at my work, "and that's all that matters." The coat that had once violated Seto's skin tone was now in a messy pile of royal-purple fabric. Its brass bits had jammed the now smoking leaf-shredder.

"He never wears it much more, anyways," Mokuba laughed, scratching at his cheek a little nervously. He wouldn't ever wear that damn thing again. I wouldn't allow it. "So I doubt he'll notice for at least a couple of months."

"That's a couple of months that I'll rest easier."

Mokuba laughed and closed the door to the shed, which was the size of a large garage. We'd taken the coat out back to destroy it, just because the sneakiness made the boy feel more developed as a person, I think. "So you prefer the white one?"

I grinned widely with toothy satisfaction at one of my many to-do goals having been met. I somehow doubted that Mokuba would be so willing to help me in the destruction of the jet, but I'd find a way someday.

Blue Eyes shit was especially irritating to me, though I wasn't sure why. The way Seto looked at it just pissed me off. Who was that obsessive over something? He knew it was just an imaginary creature from a children's card game, right? Regardless, the jet had to go. Maybe I could pay the Ishtars to destroy it for me. Malik was especially talented at sneaking into high-security places like this. I could probably convince him to do it in exchange for cookies or something.

"He looks good in white," I nodded, "so I don't have a problem with his current one. It's still a little pretentious." I held the door open for Mokuba to let him in first. "But everything he _does_ is pretentious."

The white jacket was my favorite. I didn't know anyone but Seto that could wear it and not look like a total fool. Sure, it was still completely ridiculous (what were those horn things on his hips, anyways?), but it was just so…Seto.

"You're weird," Mokuba laughed and flopped on one of the expensive plush couches.

I sat beside him, crossing over one of my legs and leaning back with my arms splayed across the back of the couch to stare at the ceiling. I was still high from getting to throw that freaking coat in the shredder. I sort of wished he had a second one to do it again, but Mokuba had informed me that Seto in fact only had one of each of his coats. Less fun for me, I guess. He'd probably planned it that way.

Damn Seto, ruining all my fun.

"_Soooo_…." I turned my eyes to angle towards him, grunting to push his sentence forward. Mokuba smiled a little bashfully and my lips fell into a half-frown at the youth's mischievous face. "You never really answered before."

"Huh?"

"About my brother."

"What about him?" I returned my eyes to the ceiling. It was a little boring, really; just a bland off-white. I half-expected there to be a mural up there. I bet there was one over Seto's bed. It was probably of him and a Blue Eyes. I'd never gotten to see his room before and couldn't decide if it would be completely empty and devoid of all color or pleasure, or if it would be filled to the brim with Blue Eyes shit (which I'd enjoy taking a sledgehammer to).

"Do you like him?"

"He's digestible," I grunted. "He can be boring sometimes, but he's more interesting than the other morons at school."

"No," Mokuba shook his head. "I mean do you _like_ him? –_Like_ him, like him?"

I arched an eyebrow, still staring at the empty ceiling. Mokuba's words had twisted my thoughts, however, and now I was looking at his dragon-filled room sitting on the bed with me staring down at him. _Oh, for the love of god_… I growled to make the images pass before sitting up to glare at his little brother, whom was still smiling hopefully in my direction. "What the hell is this about?" I demanded while swatting at the couch as though I could physically push the images of him from my head. "He can barely stand me!"

He smiled, now more mischievous than hopeful, and I leaned back some at that glint in his dark eyes. "That's not answering," he cooed before shooting an accusational finger up at my nose, suddenly having become quite overexcited. "You _do_! You like my brother!"

"I never said that!" I leapt from the couch to stomp to nowhere particular, just working to escape him. But Mokuba shot after me, giggling and twirling. "Stop _twirling_!" I hissed. "And why do you care, anyways?"

"I think it would be cute if you and Seto got together," he replied impishly as I glowered down at him, still baffled at how easily he ignored my rage. Kaibas seemed to be completely immune to my anger.

"And what the shit makes you think I like him?"

"Because you started calling him Seto like me."

What? When did I start doing that? I stopped, my anger dissipating as I allowed this sentence to roll through my mind. …How long had I been doing that?

"That," he grinned wider, "and I've seen you looking at his butt before."

"You little brat." I glared at him flatly, my rage having shifted to irritated embarrassment.

"He never notices that sort of thing, though," Mokuba assured, still grinning. "So I am pretty sure you're safe for now. If you want, I could see if he likes you, too!"

I snorted and folded my arms, my legs locking in place to express my irritation. He didn't seem especially intimidated, though, probably because my face was bright red. "I don't need your help, thank you very much," I grumbled. "If I liked Set—_Kaiba_—I'd do something about it on my own, whether he liked me or otherwise. I take what I want."

"He's hard to break." Mokuba had turned away from me mid-sentence, a finger to his chin in consideration of his options while completely ignoring my commentary and succeeding in returning me to my rage-state. "And he's really blind to most things, especially his own feelings… I don't know how I'd begin to get him to admit that he likes you, even to me!" He giggled, turning back towards me and just smiling at my snarls. "But I'll think of something, Kura! Don't worry!"

I could tell arguing about it was as useful in this situation as arguing with Seto had been that afternoon about coming over to begin with (freaking Kaibas and their freaking mind-control!) so I just folded my arms to express my distaste. "Why do you care about this all the sudden, anyways?"

Mokuba walked closer to me.

What he hell was with this family?

Most people knew better than to get this close to me when I was angry, people who knew the real me at least, but Kaibas had serious balls. They didn't give a damn when I was angry. I wasn't sure what made them think they were safe. Maybe all Kaibas out there thought they were immune to me. Whatever it was, it was both able to infuriate and intrigue me. No matter what I did, no matter what I said, I never seemed able to push them away—they just kept taking steps closer.

Before I knew it, the child was hugging me around the waistline and I just stood there and took it like a good tutor-bitch. "Because you're the first person that we've both really liked," he spoke into my stomach as I stared down at him. "I can tell he likes you at least a little bit, and that's actually a whole lot by most people's standards! And, well, you're fun and cool, and Ryou is really nice. I can tell big brother likes him, too, though he'd never admit it."

"Of course not," I grunted, still standing perfectly still. I wasn't a very touchy-feely person, so a hug wasn't something I readily accepted. If nothing else, the whole experience was an awkward one, so I just continued to focus on his inky-black hair. "He has to keep his assness intact."

Mokuba giggled a little before smiling up at me, his chin on my stomach. "See? You understand us. I just don't want you to leave." His eyes withered and I flinched a little. "You're graduating next spring and we'll never see you again…"

I couldn't tolerate the hugging anymore, so I gently pushed him back with my hands on his little shoulders to give me a foot or so of personal space back. "You worry too much about tomorrow," I stated matter-of-factly. "If there's anything I've learned in this strange almost-existence, it's not to worry about tomorrow but to focus on the here and now. I'm here right now, so stop wondering about whether or not I'll be here tomorrow. Besides, Ryou likes you," I folded my arms, "so I'm sure he'll continue to bother you well after he graduates."

"What about you?"

"I can't say how long I'll exist." I smirked supportively when the boy's eyes drooped. "But I'm here now, right?" He nodded. "So let's have some fun. Got any more coats I can shred?"

Mokuba shook his head. "No. But maybe you could spend the night!"

I blinked. "Spend the night?"

"Since you're awake and such, why not? Live in the here and now, right?" I frowned at how easily he'd turned my own advice against me. Mokuba knew I really did have an interest in making him happy. Why I cared so much I didn't know, but I did, and refusing him was often a challenge. "We have clothes here and everything else you could need. We could play video games and tell ghost stories and eat smores!" I could sense his growing excitement, but the enormous smile pasted to his face was more than I could tolerate.

I groaned, running a hand over my face. "Fine," I gave in. There was no use fighting it. Mokuba got what Mokuba wanted—if not from his brother, than from, me. Because, you know, he needed to be spoiled more than he already was. "I'll stay."

"_Yay_!"

"But only for a night."

Mokua danced around a bit before shooting down the hall, laughing and summoning for me to follow. "Come on! Let's go find an air mattress!"

I sighed and followed after him at a sluggish pace.

…What the hell was a smore?

It didn't take Mokuba very long to get everything set up for our little 'sleepover'. In fact, it was almost as though he'd been prepared for it. He'd been keeping an air mattress tucked under his bed with the inflator thing beside it, and even had all the necessary blankets and pillows that I might require. He had spare toothbrushes, various toothpastes, and other personal items in a blue case in his bathroom, and even had a blue and white striped towel with gold trimming (seems he thought I was as flamboyant as he and his brother) in the bathroom closet.

Just how long had the little shit been planning this?

Mokuba's room was enormous, as one might assume it would be. He had his own bathroom that rivaled the size of our home-classroom, and his closet was even bigger, but most of it was packed with boxes of who-knows-what instead of actual clothing, of which he seemed to be lacking in for someone so wealthy. His bed as a Full size, which also surprised me, and on it was (of course) a Blue Eyes. I cringed a little and tried not to stare too directly at the bed, choosing instead to eye all of the technology around me as Mokuba got my mattress set up.

Like his brother, Mokuba was a genius when he came to technology. I, however, was not, and being as technologically advanced as a plank of wood, I had no idea of what half of what I looked at was. I took a guess that the majority of it was directly related to projects that Kaiba had given him, so I could safely assume it had to do with playing Duel Monsters.

Ryou didn't care much for card games, but I found I had a knack for them, particularly this one. Kaiba's company had been responsible for successfully creating realistic holographic images based off of data that could be stored in cards, and he applied this principle to the card game Duel Monsters, which of course made the game skyrocket into a worldwide phenomenon basically overnight. Why he chose to use these advanced holograms for a card game instead of something, I don't know…_adult_, I didn't care enough to ask about. I enjoyed the game and was good enough to tear through other Duelists, which was all I cared about because I often played for cash. It was a good way to make an easy buck, though I was pretty sure that Kaiba would get angry if he found out how I'd been 'abusing the game'. He was like Yugi in that way: they had a ridiculous amount of respect for Duel Monsters, and I knew better than to abuse it, at least in front of them.

I recognized several Duel Disks mounted on the boy's wall as previous models and wondered how far along Kaiba was on a new one. He tended to release a new model once every year or so, but it had been a couple of years since the last version had been revealed. Maybe he'd gotten distracted by something not related to a children's card game for once, though that seemed unlikely.

Besides the Duel Monster-related things, I had no idea what the hell the rest of the blinking and humming things were. I was pretty sure the Kaibas had a Doomsday Device hidden away in this place somewhere, though. They seemed like the type of people that would have that sort of thing just casually lying around.

"All finished!"

I angled my hip to glance back towards where Mokuba had finished setting up the mattress. The blankets were normal, thank god. At least _he_ was normal enough to have crap not covered in dragons. "Thanks."

"Is it big enough?"

"I'm not a monster like Seto." I sat on the floor beside the bed, glancing it over to reassure him that I was satisfied. "I don't have many problems with fitting on things."

"Want me to get us some snacks?"

I scratched at my head, still thinking a little about where they might be storing that Doomsday Device. It would have to be somewhere physically close to Kaiba (he always kept his good shit close to him) which only gave me another excuse to sneak into his room. "Snacks?" I repeated, only half-listening. I dropped my brown eyes to where Mokuba was now sitting across from me. "I don't think I should risk going into the kitchen again so soon after the other day," I snickered. "Another repeat of last time and I can't promise your brother won't escape without a missing limb."

Mokuba laughed. "I am sure he's still at that meeting. He said he'd be gone most the night and wouldn't be back until late, but I'll go get us the snacks, just in case." He stood, hands on his little hips. Small hips seemed to be a Kaiba trait—Seto's waistline was freaking ridiculous (not that mine was any better). "Want anything particular?"

"I don't eat vegetables," I mumbled.

Mokuba made a face. "Vegetables aren't a snack, anyways," he grunted.

"They are for some people." Like Marik.

"_Blech_! How about chips? And a soda? Or do you want a beer?"

I smirked and tilted my head slightly at his offer. "You know I'm underage, right?"

"So is Seto and he drinks."

A smile crawled across my face. "Oh he _does_, does he?" This could be fun. "I didn't know that. Do tell."

"Well, he likes wine," Mokuba nodded. "And champagne and stuff."

My smile dropped. "That's not surprising, I suppose," I commented, heavily disappointed by the lack of naughtiness I'd hoped to hear about. A drunk Kaiba might not prove to be a _fun_ Kaiba, but he'd probably have more personality, at least. Now I needed to conspire ways to slip him alcohol until he willingly accepted hugs from people like Yugi—now _that_ would be entertaining.

"He doesn't drink very much."

"That's not surprising either."

"So you want a beer or something?"

"I probably shouldn't." I exhaled a breath and fell back to stare at the ceiling. There wasn't a mural on his ceiling, but I didn't expect him to have one, really. "If Ryou wakes up, he'll get sick. He doesn't handle his alcohol very well."

"You handle it differently?" He seemed genuinely surprised at this. "But don't you share the same body and all? I mean, it doesn't make any sense that your body would react differently to a chemical, just because you're in a different state of mind."

My eyes flattened a little. "Sci-fi talk and I don't get along."

"I just mean that it's weird, since you have the same body and it reacts differently to alcohol just because of which of you is in control at the time," he clarified.

"I guess it is weird," I agreed before chuckling. "But then again, what part of us is normal?"

Mokuba laughed, his hands slipping behind his head. "Yeah," he agreed. "I guess that's true. You guys _are_ a pretty special case."

"Just go get whatever snacks you want. I'm not hungry."

"Not hungry?" He blinked. "But you're _always_ hungry!"

"I'm fine."

"I'll get extra, just in case." He walked towards the door, opening it and stepping into the hall before he glanced back at me as I remained still on the floor. "I won't take long. Just wait here, okay? And don't be too loud, just in case Seto _does_ come home early." I lifted an arm to signal I'd heard him and he closed the door, leaving me alone to stare at the ceiling.

Now then, where might Seto's room be?

I calculated how long I had to explore while listening to Mokuba's little steps disappear down the length of the hallway. He had to get to the kitchen, decide what he wanted, and then come all the way back, so I was certain I had at least a five minute window—plenty of time to picklock a door. But the goal during this window, I decided, was not to sneak in to Seto's room. Not just yet. I wanted to find it first, but the hardest part of that job was done by Mokuba. Kaiba would keep very close to his little brother at all times, meaning his own room was in the same hallway. I knew it would also be the largest room. Maybe not the largest room in the house, but damn large enough to say 'Here is where Seto Kaiba lays his oversized head on his overpriced pillow.' I'd be half-surprised if he didn't have one of those 'Do not disturb' signs hanging off his doorknob, though I expected it to be something more like 'Do not disturb the Blue Eyes King or be smitten by his overpaid MIB rejects.'

If he didn't have that sign, I'd make it for him. I could do the letters in Seto-Blue.

I slipped into the hallway, glancing to make sure Mokuba was turning the corner towards the kitchen, and got to work. The hall was long and wide, decorated with paintings and expensive shelves and rugs. My brown eyes moved across the doors lining the hallway as I moved quickly (the rooms were large so it was quite a distance between them) but I was certain his room had to be one of the closest to Mokuba's.

Bingo.

I smirked when stopping in front of a door that was for sure Kaiba's. This door was actually modeled after a freaking Duel Monster's card. It was still made of solid oak like the rest of them, but in the center the wood was stained with a darker oval, and the outer rim of the door was a lighter wood than the inner portion. It was subtle, for Kaiba, but still blatantly screamed that this was his room. That or it was his 'card room', which was worth a peek anyways. Seto Kaiba had every card in existence, or so he'd have you believe, and it would be intriguing to see how he'd organized his sets. No doubt there were Blue Eyes everywhere, but certainly he didn't keep his decks in there—right?

So was it his bedroom or a card room?

After staring at the door for two of my five minutes, I decided it was his bedroom. It was just too damn close to Mokuba's not to be, and I was sure his card room would be somewhere more secret. Another hint was the size of this room: there weren't any doors for the rest of the hallway, whereas on the opposite side there were at least three more bedrooms or closets. I was just glad there wasn't a freaking _dragon_ on the door, but the fact that there wasn't remained surprising.

With my five minutes now up, I walked back to the room and took my spot on the floor to wait for the smaller Kaiba brother to return with the food. Maybe I _was_ a little hungry.

Mokuba arrived around the six minute mark, carrying two bags of chips, a bowl of popcorn, and a six-pack of soda. I might have gotten up to help him but he seemed to be doing just fine on his own. The dark-haired boy dropped the chips before flopping across from me and offering me one of the drinks. "Here you go. It's root beer," he informed as I popped the can open.

I nodded before grabbing one of the bags to tear into the chips. They were mesquite-flavored. "No meat?"

Mokuba laughed, shaking his head. "No, but we have some leftover barbeque chicken in the fridge for later, if you want any."

"I might take you up on that." I wasn't a huge chicken fan, but any meat would suffice when necessary. Chips and soda were fine for now, but I knew I'd eventually need to get real food to satisfy myself. "So what now?" I'd never done the whole 'sleepover' thing before. I couldn't even recall Ryou having gone to any, so this was a new experience for me.

"Traditionally, we might play a game or tell stories or just do whatever is fun," he explained, stuffing his face with a handful of buttered popcorn. I preferred my own dry and heavily salted. Melted butter made me nauseated. "But I know you're not much in to the whole game scene, aside from Duel Monsters, and I'm not really very good at it. So how about we skip straight to story-time?" He smiled and tilted his head as I arched an eyebrow.

"Story-time?" I spat back. What was I, _five_? "What the hell?"

"Yeah! We can swap funny or weird stories. You know, just to get to know one another better."

Not willing to waste my remaining energy on arguing with a Kaiba, I just shrugged. "Whatever."

"Okay! I guess I'll go first, then."

I glared a little. "Don't tell me you're going to sit here for an hour talking about girls you have crushes on or something, because I don't think I could take that."

He laughed. "No! I can tell you something funny about Seto."

Well, now—_that_ perked my interest. "I could listen to that."

"Okay. Well, what do you want to know?"

What a fun opportunity to better educate myself on the elusive _Seto Kaiba_. "How about you tell me something embarrassing?" I gave a toothy grin, leaning forward in expectation.

"Okay…" Mokuba leaned in as well and gave me his most mischievous smile. "He used to have a little crush on Yugi's brother. The guy who grabbed his butt that time"

I threw a hand forward. "I _knew_ it!" I exclaimed and hit the carpet enthusiastically with my other hand. Finally! Proof! "I _knew_ he had a sex drive! But for _Atem_? That's so hilarious! _Tell_ me he fucked him!" I begged. "_Please_ tell me he fucked the drama queen!"

"He never did anything about it," laughed Mokuba.

"Aww, well, shit." I fell back on the carpet, still snickering. "It would have made for some good stories!" After a few minutes, the hysteria finally settled and I was able to sit upright again, rubbing at my watering eye. "Oh god. Tell me more."

"I already said something, so it's your turn."

"I'm not telling you anything embarrassing about myself." He pouted a little. "You used your brother. How about I do Ryou?"

"I guess that would be fair," he agreed.

"Okay. Hm. Let's see. Something _embarrassing_…" I tapped at my bottom lip in consideration. There were lots of things I thought were embarrassing about Ryou, but I wasn't sure what might entertain Mokuba. "Okay then. How about this: Ryou color-coordinates everything he writes to me in gel-pens to express his emotions."

"That sounds like Ryou!" Mokuba laughed. "But that's not very embarrassing! What about his first kiss? Or something he's scared of?"

"Ryou's too shy for kissing anyone." I sat back on my arms. "As for stuff he's scared of, Ryou's easily startled so he's capable of being scared of most everything."

"He's like Seto then."

"Seto's easily startled?"

Mokuba shook his head. "No," he smiled. "The other thing."

My eyes widened slightly and my grin returned. "He's never kissed anyone? Are you fucking _kidding_ me?" It really shouldn't surprise me. Seto talked big and bad and said the reason he didn't date as because his job took all his time, but it was obvious to me that he was very shy when it came to anything sexual. I wondered how long it might take some pressuring to break him out of that.

"Big brother's pretty bashful, I think."

"Yeah, well, his attitude doesn't help with the ladies, I'm sure," I mumbled. Mokuba blushed a little and went quiet for a moment. I studied the boy until tilting my head up a little in understanding, my eyelids slightly relaxing. "I see."

"See what?" He stuffed another mouthful of popcorn in his mouth. "So it's your turn then!" Before I could comment on my understanding of the previous statement, Mokuba had already changed the subject. How Kaiba-like on him. "What about you? Seto doesn't date and Ryou's too shy, and I'm obviously too 'young', so how 'bout you, Kura? Do _you_ date?"

I shrugged. "I've casually dated in the past. Nothing fascinating came of it. Just stuff I can't tell you about."

"You're so mean! I want to know!"

"Too bad, kid." I took another mouthful of chips before finishing off my root beer and tossed the empty can into a garbage bin across the room. He proceeded to whine and beg for me to give up my secrets, but there wasn't a thing I was willing to share with Mokuba when it came to sex. "Too adult for you just yet."

"Okay," he moped. "Well… How about something else about yourself, then? Something interesting?"

"How _vague_." I picked at a piece of red crap in the carpet, growling a little when I couldn't seem to get it out. Maybe it was stained. Naughty, naughty. Kaibas were supposed to be anal and clean.

"How about you tell me what happens when Ryou's awake?" Mokuba suggested. "You know, when you're not around? You've never really told me what happens. Is it all just black? Do you even notice the shift?"

I sighed and sat upright again, scratching at my neck as I digested his questions. "Aren't you supposed to only get one question at a time?" Answering all of that would take a while, and I was feeling pretty damn lazy.

"Just explain what happens to you when Ryou's awake."

"It's nothing astonishing," I shrugged. "It's basically the same as sleeping. I always have the same dream series, though."

He tilted his head a little. "Dream series?"

"It's all about the same stuff," I yawned after giving up on figuring out what the red stain was. "It has the same basic places, people, and themes, but it's different every time, as though it is in sequence."

Contrary to my lack of believing that this was very special at all, Mokuba seemed fascinated. That face was one he only made when looking at something new and shiny. I didn't get what was so interesting about my dreams. I had them almost every night. Well, it had been three nights since the last one, but I always had them when Ryou was awake. What was so damn special about some recurring dream I had?

"That's so awesome," the small Kaiba awed. He leaned in closer as though he could see my dreams through my own eyes by gaping into them, and I leaned back and gave a little swat to shoo him away. What was with Kaibas and invading my personal space? What was it about me that said 'here is my personal bubble; please invade it'? "Tell me about it!"

I scowled. "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm curious!"

"You're always curious. That's hardly a good enough reason to take time to explain something so stupid."

"Come on, Kura! I wanna know!" He wriggled around and whined a little until I couldn't stand it anymore. "_Pleaaaase_? Pretty please?"

"Fine! _God_! Fine. Just…back away." He sat back on his feet and beamed up at me, patiently waiting for me to begin. It was a little more than annoying at how easy the brat could get me to bend to his will. But he did get a lot of practice on Kaiba, the world's least-flexible billionaire in existence (besides Ryou's father) so I needn't feel too bad about giving in to him. "It's not all one-hundred-percent clear, really," I began, "but I know I am in a desert in the dreams. It took me a long time to clarify that, and faces took even longer to find. I've had the same dream sequentially about six times in the last three years. I recognize a lot of people in it—Seto's there."

"He is?"

I nodded. "He's a priest though." Mokuba laughed at that. "Atem is there, too," I added. "He's a pharaoh."

"A _pharaoh_?" Mokuba's face twisted a little. "Like…_Egypt_?"

"Guess so."

"Hmm." He paused to mule this little bit of information over. "Have you ever been there?"

"Nope. I like the heat, but I don't know how well I'd stand up to the blaring sun with this pale skin of mine, so the Sahara isn't exactly on my places-to-visit list."

"That's a strange thing to dream about." Damn Kaibas, always studying my thoughts like they were something more than just rambling images and words put together. Had they forgotten that I was insane? That I wasn't even _real_? Who gave a flying fuck about my dreams? "Go on," he prodded.

"I'm some sort of thief," I continued, "and I'm out for revenge on the pharaoh."

"Atem, right?"

"Yup."

"Ahh. I get it. That's why you call him 'pharaoh' all the time at school. I was wondering about that."

"It seems to really bug him when I do it, too," I smirked. "He doesn't have a clue why I call him that. I think that's the part that bothers him."

"Tell me more!" Mokuba begged.

"Telling the entire story could take forever."

"We have all night."

"You're not going to let me sleep without telling you this damn story, are you?"

He smiled and just shook his head. "Nope! So get to it!"

I groaned as the boy shifted to lye on his stomach, getting comfortable for his 'story-time'.

It would be a long night…

"So….you die?"

It had been about three hours since I'd begun talking about my dreams, and, quite frankly, I was exhausted from it all. Like any good Kaiba, Mokuba was incessant with questions, determined to wring out as many details from me as he could manage. I'd finished the bag of chips, the leftover popcorn, and four of the six root beers by this time, and that chicken was sounding pretty good.

"Every damn time."

I scratched at my head and sighed, leaning my chin in a hand that was held upright by my elbow atop my knee. It was sort of depressing to think about, now that I actually took a moment to look back on my dreams: every time, at the end of the massive dream, I died. No matter how hard I tried, I never succeeded. Freaking Atem killed me every fucking time. I always knew the end was coming because it always happened the same way, and there was never anything I could do to prevent it. Nothing I wanted to do affected the outcome; it was as though it had all been set in stone.

The only good thing about dreaming the same thing constantly was that every time it got rebooted, I got more details. Mokuba had been most interested in my character's relationship with the 'priest', known as 'Seth' in my dream-world (I wasn't very imaginative, it seemed), when I'd told him that the two characters had apparently shared a fling. I kept most the details out of it, for _both_ our sakes.

Mokuba seemed to share in my distress of my recurring death because his mouth was low on his face and his eyes were particularly large and bubbly. "That _sucks_! I wish you'd manage to beat him for once."

"That would be nice," I murmured.

"You know, these are really vivid dreams."

"I already said that."

"No. I mean…_really_ vivid… My dreams are never that detailed. It's always something like me getting chased by a hamburger or something like that. This is more like…memories."

I arched an eyebrow before laughing. "_Memories_? It's just a recurring dream that's especially fucked up," I rasped before standing and stretching out my lanky body. "Now then, story-time is over. Go get ready for bed."

"All right…" He groaned a little as he stood up and began to roam towards his bathroom to change. "You need pajamas?"

"I have my boxers."

"Okay." He shut the door behind him and I got to stripping off my outer layers of clothing until I was down to my dark blue boxers, which had bats all over them. I was fond of this pair and only got to wear them when I was awake for an extended period of time. It was nice not to be in Ryou's British-flag boxers every once in a while.

A lazy glance at Mokuba's Kuriboh-themed wall clock told me it was just past midnight. It was still early for me, but the little runt needed to go to bed soon, especially if I wanted to try to find time to sneak into Seto's room. He should be getting home by three or so; Mokuba often waited up for his brother, but I had a feeling he'd forget to tonight with me being here. Once he was asleep, I could sneak out and check the locks on that door.

Even if it took another two or three sleepovers, I'd get in that damn room.

* * *

And there's the end of chapter 3.

Already 1500 words in to chapter four and Bakura is keeping me entertained.

I am pretty sure if Mokuba hadn't shown him where that coat was that he'd have had another freak out.

You know, I really need to keep up with his list. He seems to keep making it longer!

Getting side-tracked again by writing out some future-plots for this series! I need to focus on finishing chapter 4… I like how it is at the moment, but Bakura's being indecisive as of what to do next, so until he decides, I am working on this side story to amuse myself. And my roommate. Whom just read the 3 pages of it that I typed up and seems to want me to write more stuff in Seto's POV.

Haha. Anyways, I'll update this story ASAP. I guess I need to go back and write more to the Ryou-x-Kaiba one I have posted on here since people seem to like that one. I didn't get very far, though!

Talk to you guys the next time I post!


	5. Being Laundary is Entertaining

Sorry this took so long to post. Bakura couldn't decide what he was going to do at a certain point (he seems to be having some degree of trouble now that he's being exposed to the Kaibas more and more often), so I ended up getting distracted with developing future portions of the plot.

I never know what Bakura's going t do, so chapters never go the way I intend them to. His actions and thoughts can be sort of erratic sometimes so hopefully it doesn't read too choppy.

Anyways, finally getting to some of the actual plot now! Bakura likes to take his time. He's more patient than I am and it irritates me sometimes!

So here's chapter 4!

* * *

**Chapter 4****: **_Being Laundry is Entertaining_

(Yami Bakura's POV)

By the time Mokuba had decided he was ready for sleep, it was nearly two in the morning. The little bastard had wasted two good hours I could have been using trying to get into Seto's room. I was pretty sure he still wasn't home, though, so after Mokuba passed out I found the opportunity to slip into the hallway and slinked towards the door I'd found before (not that I needed to 'slink', seeing as there wasn't anyone around that I could see or hear or smell, but slinking just made it a little more fun).

I was fully aware of the fact that I could have simply _asked_ Mokuba which room was his brother's. In fact, he would have probably just let me in, seeing as how eager he was to fulfill my needs when it involved tormenting Seto, but where would the fun in that be?

Once I found the card-themed door again, I crouched to get a good look of the lock and found it to be a surprisingly average one. I could pretty easily pick it with a hairpin, but I'd left them at home. Usually I carried one in my pocket, just in case, but I'd forgotten to grab it this morning after emptying change out of my pockets the night before. The damn thing was on my dresser beside my notebook.

The notebook! _Crap_! I'd left it at home. If Ryou woke up he'd have no idea what time or what day it was. He'd probably suffer a panic attack, but at least Mokuba was there to explain things. I also needed to get home ASAP tomorrow to feed Mr. Foggles. He was always bitchy when he didn't get his dinner exactly at five-thirty and breakfast before I went to class at seven. I liked that Mr. Foggles was on a schedule coinciding with ours, though.

I'd gotten so distracted by images of a pissy Mr. Foggles that by the time I'd come back to reality and remembered what I was crouched in front of the card-modeled door for, it was probably a good half-hour later. Damn it. Set—_Kaiba_!—could be back at any minute. It was too late to scrounge a hairpin from Mokuba's bathroom and slip in the bedroom now.

I growled a little as I stood and stalked back towards the room to crawl in my makeshift bed, which turned out to be horrible. It was large enough to fit me adequately but the air mattress itself was slowly deflating.

Not able to stand it, I grabbed my blankets and a pillow and slithered back into the hallway, collapsing on the cool hardwood floor. This hallway almost felt like a cavern at night. There was no light except for the moon beaming in through a window at the opposite length of the hallway, and the floor, though flat, was cool and relaxing. A few bats and some dripping rocks would add to the affect, but the darkness soon had me relaxed and lulled me into a half-dream state.

My mind was always on alert in my half-awake state. Once I was asleep, I seemed mostly dead to the world, but in the process between lying down and actually passing out I seemed oversensitive to specific things. I opened both my eyes when I caught movement around the corner, now irritated that my rest had been so rudely interrupted. It could really only be one person, so I waited quietly to see what he would do when encountering me in the hallway.

Seto came around the corner, his eyes on his cell phone, which set alight his upper torso and face. I'd never seen him this late before and took the moment to study the teenager. He looked tired—that about covered it. He was wearing a white suit, so the meeting he attended earlier must have been especially important or whatever.

After deciding I could appreciate him in anything white, I watched expectantly as he approached me. I was sprawled out across the floor, the length of my body filling the hallway, a blanket only partially covering my body. My limbs were in strange and visibly uncomfortable positions, and I was quite sure my pale skin and hair were visible even in this darkness. Even so, Seto didn't notice me. I watched with a degree of amusement as he stepped over me, taking special care to step between my legs and to avoid the blanket, walked to his room, and worked to unlock it.

Had he seriously not seen me? Or had he just chosen not to comment? Surely he'd seen me (he stepped over me, after all), but it wasn't like him not to comment on something like me spending the night.

Was he really that tunnel-visioned?

Time to find out.

I crawled towards him on my hands on knees, keeping as quiet as possible as he pulled his keys from the depths of his white pants and opened the door. Slipping inside behind him wasn't nearly as challenging as I'd hoped it would be, so I'd have to find something harder to keep myself entertained.

My eyes darted across the room, not taking a moment to take in what I was looking at as I searched for a place to hide myself. Seto was moving towards a closet, but I saw another, so once his was in the first I scrambled into the second and squeezed myself behind a massive shoe rack. Seriously, it was a massive, _massive_ shoe rack. I couldn't see them anymore since I was behind the shoes, but they came in varying styles and colors. There had to be at least fifty pair of shoes and boots on this damn rack. Who needed that many shoes?

I tensed when he entered the closet, now undressed to a pair of silky black boxers and an untied white robe with red on the inside. I bet he had Blue Eyes slippers to match.

I allowed my brown eyes to scan him over a few times as he hung something up and moved a few pieces of clothing around, taking special notice to how his slender body fit in the baggy robe. I got the feeling this was a nightly ritual and he'd probably never really be _happy_ with how his closets were organized, because if he were satisfied, he'd be bored. –Fine with me. I could park my pasty ass here every night and watch him organize his closet half-naked.

Just as I had begun to relax when deciding he hadn't noticed me, he looked right at the shoe rack. I didn't move but I didn't close my eyes, either. Instead, I stared straight at him, keeping perfectly still, my body still mostly curled up in the red blanket Mokuba had given me, having dragged it in the room for the ride. Seto moved towards the rack, but I remained still. He planted his boots in an empty spot, glancing the rack over and seeming satisfied with its organization, and then walked back into his room. This allowed me to release the stale breath that I'd been holding in, but it didn't help my heartbeat from spinning out of control.

He was _definitely_ tunnel-visioned.

This I could take advantage of, but for the moment I was stuck behind his massive shoe-rack in one of his numerous closets. Unlike Mokuba, with his boxes and few scraps of clothing, Kaiba's closet was packed—at least this one was. From what I could see, this was his 'accessory' closet, filled with shoes, ties, belts, and other such items, all neatly organized and in their appropriate places, filling me with the urge to rearrange them and knock that damn tie rack down. I hated it when things looked this organized. I couldn't leave a room in perfect condition, so my being here was probably Seto's worst nightmare.

Once certain he wasn't coming back, I crawled out from behind my hiding place and took a tie off the rack to rake my tongue over it and then put it back where it had been. It was dark red with lighter red horizontal lines and I looked forward to seeing him wearing it now. I turned my attention towards the belts and found one that I knew he wore often. It had to be a favorite because it was hanging on its own little hook, so I coiled it around my waist to put it, and covered it again with the blanket. Scowling happily, I continued to search the closet for fun things to keep myself preoccupied, all the while keeping my ears open for any sign of his return.

After rearranging the shoes, rubbing a tie on my ass, pinning several of his silver Kaiba Corp logos on my boxers, and burying four or five belts behind some shoe-boxes, I returned to my spot behind the rack and curled up.

Falling asleep back there might have been pretty easy had there not been the promise of getting to sneak back into the bedroom and risk getting caught by Seto Kaiba. It was too much of a risk not to be taken. I was a gambler by nature. Risk excited me (and that was perhaps one of the main reasons that Marik and I got along so well), so I couldn't just sit in there all night, though it might have been fun to scare the shit out of the multi-billionaire the next morning. That would be fun, too, but I decided to take the chance of slipping out while Kaiba slept.

Maybe I'd get to see what he looked like then he was unconscious. He was probably still an ass. I was pretty sure that Kaiba slept-walked and did work in his sleep because that was what the entirety of his existence revolved around—besides defeating Atem and Yugi in Duel Monsters, that is.

It was around four-thirty when I finally crept out of the closet, but not until having been polite enough to turn the light off, which Seto neglected to do.

Wasteful bastard.

The bedroom was completely silent when I opened the closet door to poke my head out, and the bed didn't look especially occupied. In fact, it was empty. There wasn't any sign of Seto having even gotten in that bed.

Confused, I crawled out and stood, still hugging my dark red fleece blanket around my pale body, and began to wander around the room to take advantage of Seto's mysterious absence. I was sure he'd come in here, so why wouldn't he sleep in this room? What the hell was this—his 'closet only' bedroom?

The room itself was well-decorated and fairly modest by Kaiba-standards. It wasn't anything over the top or especially extravagant. Disappointing, really.

I pursed my lips and glanced in the bathroom to be sure he hadn't passed out on the toilet or something. But no Seto.

Where the shit had he gone?

After another thirty minutes of fruitless exploration, moving crap around, and rubbing random objects on my ass to make myself snicker, I decided that it was time to head back to Mokuba's room. Well, the hallway. The hallway was _definitely_ more comfortable than that damn mattress, which would probably be deflated by now anyways.

I finally passed out around five-ish in the morning, my mind whirling with new ideas of how to patronize Seto and questions concerning where the brunette had vanished to. I'd figure it out eventually, but not that night, because I drifted asleep before I could get any good ideas going.

Darkness welcomed me, summoning my mind back to those strange, recurring dreams in which I found myself again with Seto, called 'Seth' here. This time I got to talk to him for several hours about mostly nothing, but those nothings were more important than a few moments of important somethings, and he had the entirety of my attention upon him as he spoke.

He couldn't have been any older then fourteen, I think, and by this point I was somewhere around sixteen. It was then that I realized that we'd actually known one another for a while; maybe a few years. I wasn't sure how we'd met yet or why we were friends (he was being prepared to enter the Priesthood and I was just the local thief), but I knew we were devoted to one another in a way that reminded me of Yugi and the dog; I was protective and Seth was ignorant to most things.

I had to climb out the window when his mother came down the hallway, but he grabbed my wrist before I could slip off the side and descend to the safety of the mazed alleys below. "Will thee return tomorrow?"

Clingy, maybe? And what was up with the way he talked?

God, he looked so pathetic, staring at me with those large Seto-blue eyes of his, but I couldn't help but reassure him. "Of course," I nodded. "I'll be back after the guards make their shift."

"So…around eight?"

I smirked. "How cute. You've memorized our schedule."

He blushed a little and withdrew his hand. He was timid now, but my dreams I'd had in the past reminded me of how aggressive Seth would become. That, and he'd prove to be my downfall. "Just be careful," he warned softly. "The guards know about thee, I believe." He glanced over his shoulder before looking back towards me and shoving me to move off the ledge as I stared down at him with my grey-violet eyes. "Go! _Go_! Before my mother comes! Move swiftly, Bakura! Before she sees thee!"

"I'll be back tomorrow night," I promised before I vanished over the ledge. My long legs coiled before my feet hit the dirt, and I began my walk back towards home, still completely ignorant to just how _screwed_ I was at this point.

The one person I trusted would turn on me and there was nothing I could do about it.

Warning me in these dreams wouldn't do any good anyways. Even if I _could_ talk to myself, the 'me' in these delusions wouldn't have listened. He was stubborn.

I was stubborn.

Whatever.

Stupid dreams.

I was glad when my eyelids lifted.

The first question that always came to mind after realizing that I was awake was wondering how long had passed. I knew that Ryou had to have finally come-to between the hallway and now because I was lying on the couch, staring at the bland ceiling of Seto's overly-massive Living Room. I could hear Mokuba spouting in the background, practicing his vocabulary, so it must have been sometime in the early evening. I was still in the Kaiba household, apparently, but how long had I been asleep?

It wasn't common that I woke up outside of a bed. I normally had Ryou's journal close by but this wasn't the case, so it was up to me to figure out the when and where's of my situation.

"Does that sound right to you?"

"Huh?" I shifted to look over the shoulder of the sofa.

"That sentence? I'm not sure if that word is appropriate for it or not."

"Oh. Uh…sure. Whatever."

He paused. "Bakura?"

I moved off the couch, groggily stretching a little before padding over to stare down at the smaller teenager with my sleepy brown eyes. He was blinking widely at me the way he did when Ryou and I switched when he wasn't expecting it. "Yup… How long I been gone?"

"Not long. Less than the last time." He turned his dark eyes back to his homework, erasing something before re-writing it. I watched him do this but really didn't pay enough attention to be able to say what he was doing or why. Ryou's memories tended to take a few minutes to soak in and resurface, so I was a bit of a zombie for a while. "A couple days."

"What day is it?"

"Sunday. It's about four-thirty. Seto's in his office doing work, so we were just doing some homework for next week to get it out of the way. I guess Ryou must have dozed off, or something. He _has_ been pretty sleepy."

Ugh… I didn't want to have to go to school tomorrow… "How long have I been here?"

"You've come and gone, but you've been sleeping here since Friday."

I scratched at my side a little before sitting in one of the elaborate wooden chairs and face-planting the table.

I'd slept for two days. How was it possible to still be tired?

…_Oh_. Ryou had been sleeping on that damn mattress. Well, 'sleeping' wasn't quite right. He'd been tossing and turning on the air mattress, which explained why I'd taken so long to wake up and why I was tired. My mind was rested but my body was still exhausted from the lack of actual rest.

Ryou should have just asked to sleep on the damn couch or something. He was way too timid sometimes. …Correction: _most_ of the time.

I groaned and Mokuba chuckled some. "Need some aspirin or something?"

"I might…" Absorbing memories sometimes caused headaches; the boy was used to this scene playing over and over by now and came prepared.

"There's some medicine in the hall bathroom over there, if you need any."

After an allowance of a couple laggy minutes, I rose from the chair and began to move towards the bathroom to get some of that medication, but I ended up pausing in the hallway when I heard Seto's voice. "Just get it done," he barked, obviously on the phone yelling at some stupid subordinate. They must have been important, though, because he'd probably fire anyone unimportant who he bothered to yell at. "I don't care what it costs. I need those designs printed and sent off for review. No. I don't care if it takes all night. Get it done or find a new job." He hung up, cursing a little, and I moved towards his office to poke my head inside.

This was one of his smaller home-offices (his larger one was on the second floor). Seto was standing at his desk, rubbing his face with one of his slender palms. The brunette sighed and turned towards me, his expression long and drawn. He'd not been sleeping very well, either, apparently. "Can I _help_ you with something, Bakura?"

I immediately frowned. "How'd you know?" I demanded before inviting myself inside.

He held out a hand to stop me from coming too close. Apparently Seto had a rather large personal bubble that, if invaded, would set me aflame or something. "I've been around Ryou long enough to be able to tell the differences between you." He sat down at his small desk (of course, a 'small' Seto-desk was still a good two times larger than a typical house-desk, but it was smaller than the bigass one he used upstairs).

"We look the _same_!"

Kaiba eyed me and I growled a little. He wasn't going to give up his secrets today. No matter. I'd figure it out.

My brown eyes tilted from his eyes to his tie: it was the striped red one. "Nice tie," I grinned, and he eyed me a little harder. He'd have some serious crows-feet when he was older, which was a real shame since he had such an attractive face.

"Whatever." Seto turned away and attempted to dismiss me with a motion of one of his hand like I was the fucking gardener. "Now get out. I have work to do and you're little more than a distraction."

Not one to be so easily ignored, I chose to ignore him instead and moved towards the desk. Seto turned to glare at me, unamused, but I just grinned at him. Annoying him seemed to have made my headache vanish. (If only I could somehow bottle his irritation into Seto-Blue pills, I could market that shit.) "You should wear it more often." Ignoring his previous statement only seemed to increase his 'bothered' level. I grinned a little toothier and he threw a hand out to try to shoo me out again.

"_Out_!"

I chuckled at his pathetic attempts to intimidate me. "You're losing your touch, Seth."

He paused and allowed some confusion to surface on his face. "_Seth_?"

"Seto." I frowned and corrected my mistake. "Whatever. You look the same."

"You really _are_ insane."

"Probably," I snickered. "But that just makes me fun."

He growled and tried again. "Get out, Bakura!"

"Or you'll what? –_Fire_ me? Hardly. Mokuba likes me too much." He didn't respond with anything but an angry glare, so I cackled some and turned on my heel to walk around the office. I could feel him watching at me the entire time with those intense yes of his, so I made certain I moved seductively. He'd blush and I wouldn't see it, but knowing that color was staining his face just made me continue to tease him.

"Go do your job."

"Mokuba is doing just fine without me." I bent over to inspect a book on the shelf, making sure he got a good shot of my ass.

Seto sighed out a heavy breath, obviously becoming increasingly irritated. "Then you're unnecessary. Works for me. Get out of my house."

"Calm down. You're so dramatic. _God_…" I stood upright and swayed over to his desk, grinning at how he leaned back in his seat. "You need to learn to chill, Seto. Seriously."

He was about to say something when his phone rang. I frowned when he went for it but managed to throw my hand on top of his to hang the phone back up. "What the _hell_, Bakura?"

"You've probably been in here all day." I eyed the tie again and smiled before making eye contact. He was still unamused, but his anxiety was showing through. "Haven't you? You should take a break."

"You're sounding more like Ryou," he grunted.

"Well, sometimes he has good ideas."

"He has the idea to stay the hell out of my way and out of my business," Kaiba snorted, "so yeah. I'd say he was damn smart."

I leaned in closer to make a retort but was cut off when Mokuba appeared in the doorway, looking especially huffy about our banter. "What are you two doing?" he grunted, causing Kaiba the lean a little to look around me. "Are you fighting again? God, you're like children, I swear!"

"He started it."

Kaiba snarled and shoved at me, pushing me back a foot. "Keep your pet in-line, Mokuba, or I'll get him fixed."

I rolled my eyes at his drama before walking back to stand beside Mokuba, who just folded his little arms and shot disappointed looks at the both of us with his dark grey-blue eyes.

"Seto's just being an ass."

"You're not helping, I'm sure," the child sighed. "You two seriously need to learn how to get along."

"But it's too much fun to fight." I pouted a little before snickering and leaning my eyes back towards a tight-ass Seto. "He just makes it so easy."

"Get _out_!"

My eyes fell back to the smaller Kaiba. "I'm going to go home for a little bit," I informed, keeping Seto's angry figure in the corner of my field of vision for further self-amusement, "but I'll be back this evening to make sure you've finished your work."

"That's a good idea, I think," Mokuba nodded.

"Good riddance," Seto huffed before he sat down in his seat again to return to his endless loop of work-and-no-fun.

One day I'd break him so that he'd look forward to moments where I interrupted his daily routine.

"Sorry about big brother." Mokuba sighed as we closed the door and walked back towards the Living Room so I could grab my wallet. "I don't know what he's so worked-up about today. I think work's been stressing him out lately."

I'd have to take the bus home since it was too far to walk. Thinking about this made me queasy so I returned my thoughts to Mokuba. "More-so than usual?"

"Yeah. There's been word of a possible takeover attempt sometime in the next month."

"I'm sure he'll fire plenty of people to cover his ass."

Mokuba followed me all the way to the front door. "So you'll come right back, right?"

I angled my body to glance at him, nodding a little. "I'll be back in a couple of hours." Mr. Foggles needed his food and since Ryou wasn't around to do it, it fell upon me to take care of the furry little creature.

The only thing I was worried about, besides taking the damn bus and having to tolerate stupid passengers trying to be friendly with me when I was hardly in the mood to even be around people at all, was the thought of my father being home. He was usually back by seven, so I'd have to be quick to get over there and be back on the bloody bus by then or he'd notice I was missing. He hadn't noticed that I'd been sleeping here the last couple nights, at least. I knew this because had Zorc found this out, I'd have woken up to injuries, not a comfortable couch. Zorc didn't take well to Ryou or I doing things on our own or without permission, even though he couldn't give shit about our well-being—it was all about control and manipulation.

"I'll have dinner ready for you when you get back."

I grinned and nodded a thanks before sliding my hands in the pockets of my jeans and walking out to head towards the bus stop.

_- (Switch Scene) -_

So…I hadn't been as lucky as I'd hoped I'd be.

Zorc had been home waiting for me by the time I got there and, needless to say, he was pissed to discover I'd been out and about for the weekend without his approval. This led to another scuffle, and I was luck to get away with just a black eye and bruising.

The beating itself hadn't lasted very long, so I could assume he'd been tired or something.

I ended up back in Ryou's bedroom, feeding a very hungry Mr. Foggles for the first time that day. "Sorry dinner's so late," I apologized while looking in a hand-mirror at my inflamed eye. I wasn't sure how I could get this little event past Mokuba. He was sure to make a fuss. I could have stayed home that night, but I had made a promise to return. There wasn't any way I could hide this sort of thing from him for long, anyways (not with Ryou being his tutor), so there wasn't really a point in not going back.

Mr. Foggles sniffed at his empty bowl before sitting down and looking up at me with demanding brown eyes. "Don't you bark," I warned when he gave a few warning growls before yipping and looking back towards his bowl. "I just fed you. God. You're insatiable."

Mr. Foggles was a six-pound ball of white fur with massive brown eyes that made me give him whatever he wanted. He was a white Pomeranian, one Ryou had purchased not long after I'd woken up to give me company or some shit like that. I'd hated the fuzz-ball at first, but now Mr. Foggles had become a staple in my existence. He was a loud, demanding, eccentric, smart, _bitchy_ little creature that I adored. I'd made it a goal to make Mr. Foggles exactly like me, and the white hair atop his round little head was even styled to have 'wings' like Ryou said I had.

I'd taught Mr. Foggles to destroy Twinkies because the gay references never ceased to amuse me when I watched him do it.

Mr. Foggles had also been educated to attack when he saw the pharaoh's photographs. I was patiently awaiting the day when I'd get to introduce my white ball of fur to an unsuspecting Atem so I could see the horror in his purple eyes when discovering my dog was quite vicious when he wanted to be.

So, why the hell had I named him _Mr. Foggles_? I hadn't—Ryou had named the little bastard. I'd had no say in it, which didn't seem especially fair to me, but what else could I do? For a while I'd called him _Mr. Faggles_ because it amused me how angry he seemed to get, (the damn fur-ball was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for) but nowadays I respected him enough to use his name. It was gay, sure, but Ryou insisted we kept it and I respected his wishes.

He growled a little in demand for more food, so I gave him another few pieces to keep him quiet. "You're pathetic." He happily consumed what I'd offered before scrambling around my feet as I stood and grabbed a duffel bag with some clothes. Mr. Foggles whined and followed me closely while I moved towards the window to escape by climbing down a tree just outside. "I'll be back tomorrow after class," I promised. "You keep your mouth shut or Zorc will roast you on a spit." Mr. Foggles whimpered some but I climbed out anyways.

_- (Switch Scene) - _

"What the hell happened to you?"

I tossed my bag inside and walked through the large door to re-renter the Kaiba mansion. It smelled like Chinese. "Nothing important enough to talk about." I wasn't in the mood to discuss my black eye, especially not after having my ass handed to me by my father and then having to tolerate another fifteen minutes on the damn bus.

But Mokuba was a Kaiba, and (like all _good_ Kaibas) he was incessant when he wanted something. "You got into another fight with your dad, didn't you?" he demanded, trying to run in front of me to block my advance towards the Dining Room where I knew he'd have the food ready, which he did. Mokuba was accustomed to feeding Seto so he was good at getting food out. He was also good at forcing his brother to eat (Seto tended to forget that sort of thing, though I had no idea how someone could _forget_ to eat) and when I entered the room, the brunette was already there.

Seto turned his blue eyes to me only briefly before returning them to his newspaper, which he was holding with one hand while feeding himself every several seconds with his other. Seto was too good for takeout and it looked like he'd had one of the chefs prepare him a nice filet mignon, which he was slowly consuming in tiny slices. He had a salad and some steamed vegetables to go with the meat, and I watched him move while just barely listening to Mokuba whine about my 'situation'.

"You can't stay there!" he insisted. "He's going to kill you or something one of these days! I just know he will! You always come back with injuries and I can't stand it!"

Even Seto looked towards his little brother when sensing how upset Mokuba was over my living conditions, though I was sure he didn't know anything about my home life. I didn't need his pity. Seto was the sort that might actually become upset when hearing about Ryou and me being regularly beaten by Zorc, mainly because of his own experiences with an abusive father. "What are you babbling about, Mokuba?" It was then that I caught him really looking at me. He focused on my face, obviously taking notice of my black eye.

I sat down, grabbing one of the takeout boxes and a pair of chopsticks. "You're being obnoxious." I stuffed my face with a large bite of rice and noodles. "Now eat your dinner before it gets cold."

Mokuba looked towards Seto with one of those 'please help' sort of looks and I knew I was doomed.

Seto glared at me but I just glared right back at him to make his lip curl. "Get in a fight?" I didn't respond, so Mokuba opened his big mouth for me.

"Their father is abusive!"

Seto continued to stare at me, digesting this information for a long moment before he spoke in a surprisingly level and serious voice. "Is that true?"

I shrugged it off. "What the fuck do _you_ care? I can take care of myself." I grabbed another box. "Ooh—Lo Mein."

"_Bakura_!" Mokuba slapped a hand on the oak table to get my attention. I growled and moved my eyes towards him. God, this was such a pain in the ass! He'd even turned Seto on me! Abusive parents were one of the few things that somehow got this pair all up-in-arms "Take this seriously! This is a serious situation! You could get hurt if you stay there!"

I could see that there wasn't any sarcastic comment that would make them shut up, so confronting the situation was the only thing I could do. That pissed me off. I hated being forced to do anything, and being pushed into a corner didn't help. "_Listen_, I don't need your help, or your pity, so just keep your noses out of my personal business. All right?"

Seto just kept on staring at me, further agitating me with how hard he studied me. I moved some in my chair, trying to keep myself rooted in sanity by eating my food.

"It's not all right!" Mokuba cried. "Bakura, I'm worried about you! And about Ryou, too! What if your father really hurts you next time?"

"I can take care of _myself_," I repeated in a hard voice. "Now shut the hell up. You're ruining my dinner."

"How long has this been going on?" Seto wasn't asking me, but rather his voice floated towards his brother, though he just kept right on staring at me.

_Blink, dammit!_

"Since forever," Mokuba replied. "But it was worse before until Bakura woke up."

"So," Seto seemed to have come to some sort of epiphany and I sank some in my chair when he rose and walked over to stare at me just from a couple feet away, "you exist to protect him from your abusive father," he concluded. I growled and he titled his head back, apparently proud in how he'd figured it out. "I see. So _that's_ your stimulus: Ryou's a pussy and created you to protect himself, which is why you're an aggressive asshole."

"_Congratulations_," I snarled. "Now that we've all learned a little about me, can I get back to my dinner?"

Seto eyed me harder and I sank more in my chair. Why the fuck was he so damn intimidating? Usually I could shoo him off with some wit or just by ignoring him, but both Kaibas was too much to easily escape.

I should have just stayed home with Mr. Foggles.

"How often do you fight?"

"Every week he has a different injury," Mokuba answered for me. I jerked my head towards him to grimace but it didn't do any good. He wasn't even looking at me. He and Seto had their eyes locked. It was like they'd removed me from the conversation entirely! _Damn Kaibas_… "I haven't seen him with a black eye before, but he's had worse."

Kaiba titled his eyes towards me now and I felt the need to threaten him with one of the forks close by, but that wouldn't do much good (Seto's reflexes were sort of insane) so instead I resorted to just hissing, which did even less than a fork might have done. "You'll stay here for the night."

"_What_?"

"Do I have to repeat everything I say? You'll stay here for tonight."

I titled my head a little. "Oh, will I?"

"Damn right you will. Since you're incapable of _protecting_ yourself, I'll see to it that you can't return to get your ass kicked again—at least not for tonight." I chortled and he glared again at my amusement. "What's so damn _funny_?"

"You haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"That I've been here all weekend?"

He processed this before eyeing me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I've been here all weekend," I repeated. "You've walked over me every night to get to your room. It's been pretty entertaining, actually. You take special care not to walk on me but always go over or around me" Seto's eyebrows tightened but I could sense his confusion. "Last night I even positioned myself to become a challenge to go around, yet you _still_ managed it without once even noticing me, apparently."

"I thought you were laundry."

"What?"

"Mokuba tends to toss his dirty laundry in the hallway," he explained. "I just assumed that's what you were: a load of dirty, smelly sheets."

I lifted an eyebrow. "You're not bloody serious."

He shrugged some and I dropped my jaw. "Next time I'll be sure to step on you, instead. Now then—Mokuba."

"Yes?"

"I'll deal with you later for inviting people to spend the night without talking to me about it first." Seto's voice had been quite serious that time and it was apparent that my little black-haired friend would be getting in trouble for inviting me over for the weekend, but Mokuba seemed unconcerned.

"Okay…"

"And as for you." He angled himself to speak down to me again, making me flinch and growl again. "You're parking your pale ass in a guest room until I can deal with the situation."

My lips curled. What made him think he could boss me around? I was aware that this was the 'Seto way' of inviting me live at the mansion, but it still pissed me off that he thought he could just push me around so easily! "What situation might _that_ be?"

"I don't tolerate abusive parents," he grunted. "Tomorrow we'll gather your things and move you in until I find you a more permanent place to stay."

"I don't need your _pity_!" I snarled, baring my non-existent Ryou-fangs as my hair bristled with increasing annoyance. "You don't own me! And you don't run my life any more than my bloody father does! So stop trying to push me around or I'll—!"

"Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be, Bakura," he interrupted my rant, disarming me with his blue eyes. "You can pay rent by looking after and tutoring Mokuba while I'm at work. I've been busy lately and he could use the company, even if it is obnoxious, aggressive, albino company."

"I'm not an albino, you son of a _bitch_!" I could tell I was on the verge of losing it. Kaiba was good at pushing my already unstable mind over the brink.

"Please, Bakura…" Mokuba's small hand rested on my shoulder and the anger and insanity drained from me. His dark eyes quivered and I couldn't find scrounge any anger to thrust at him. "Please stay here… Just for a while… I don't want to see you get hurt again…"

So that was it. There wasn't anything left to do but just go along with them. Kaibas were too stubborn and there was no way in hell I could prevent this from happening.

And as much as I hated to think of even stomaching the idea that Seto was right, he was. Ryou would be safer here. Zorc wouldn't be able to get at us if we were under the umbrella of the Kaiba family, at least not for a while. I was aware that Zorc was powerful enough to cause them a good deal of trouble, though. Even Seto didn't stand a chance when Zorc got pissed, but Seto was too proud to believe that, so there wasn't any point in even bringing that up at all.

I sat back in my seat, glowering at my food since I couldn't manage to do the same to Mokuba, and hating myself for allowing this to transpire. "_Fine_," I grunted. "Whatever. I'll get my shit tomorrow."

Seto smirked, satisfied that he'd broken me, and returned to his chair. "I'm glad to see you've come to your senses. Mokuba, be sure to bring up the necessary paperwork tomorrow for me to become his legal guardian."

"Sure thing!"

My head shot up. "You can't be _serious_!" I cried. "I'm older than you are!"

"It's easier this way." He was still wearing his smug 'I pwn you' face.

I snarled again, snapping one of my chopsticks from gripping it too hard. "You're just trying to humiliate me!"

"Stop being dramatic. I'm doing you a favor." I couldn't do anything but roar out a sound of anger, but this didn't phase him at all. "Now then, should I send some assistance to help you get your things?" Seto ate one of his pieces of meat and picked his paper up again. "Or can you at least do that on your own?"

"I'll be fine!"

"Good. So. Mokuba, how was your day?"

Seto Kaiba is a fucking _asshole_!

But it looked like Mr. Foggles and I had a new bed…

_- (Switch Scene) - _

"I'll pick you up after class."

We stood on the curb and watched Mokuba wave as he ran into the school for his first period, leaving Kaiba and I to walk in together, and this didn't go unnoticed. Kaiba and I rarely hung out, and though I'd made bothering him at lunch a favorite daily event, he and I weren't ever together outside of those forty-five minutes a day.

Of course, now I'd see him quite a bit more since I was moving in to the mansion that evening. I'd given up trying to be angry about it. Ryou was safer, and that was ultimately what mattered to me. Of course this didn't mean that I was pleased by it, or that I wouldn't make life difficult for Seto, but for now I was just trying to make it past the next eight hours.

"People seem to think we're pal-pals now," I snickered, stopping to grab Ryou's kitten notebook from his locker.

"People should keep their noses in their own business."

I found it amusing that Kaiba actually followed me, coming beside me as I grabbed my things. He still looked as grouchy as ever, but if he looked happy I was sure it would be a little much for me to handle. A happy Seto was a sort of horrifying image, and I frowned a little while imagining what 'Happy Seto' might insinuate.

Lucky for me it was still Assy Seto that was standing beside my locker, and he glared at me as he studied my nauseated expression. "_What_?" he growled before I shut my locker.

"_Blech_… Don't ever smile, please."

He snorted and I moved past him to begin walking towards first period where I'd face just about everyone I couldn't tolerate. Lucky for me, Seto acted as a sort of stupid-repellant and kept most of them from approaching me like they usually did. The only one that might dare come speak to me with Seto Kaiba lingering close by was Yugi, and I didn't really mind him so much. He'd probably come ask me about my black eye at some point, and I'd tell him I'd gotten beaten up for my lunch money or something. Ryou did get his ass kicked a lot. A whole lot. Yugi always sympathized since he was always getting his tiny ass handed to him too when Atem wasn't there to scare the bullies away with his crazy voice.

I parked my ass in my seat, growing less and less willing to pretend to be Ryou that day, and smirked some when Kaiba sat down in the chair beside mine. Usually he sat in the very back.

It would seem that his exposure to Ryou over the weekend had made him a little clingy. That, and I was sure Kaiba thought I was hot and wanted some.

That's right, big man. You just keep on circling…

"What are _you_ snickering about?"

I rolled my eyes to meet his before flashing a grin that made him growl a little. "Pipe down, Seto. It's too early to be that bitchy."

He gritted his teeth, preparing to grumble about me using his first name, when Marik approached him. I lifted my eyebrows and pursed my lips, angling my face away when seeing the look on the blonde's face. Marik wasn't someone I wanted to mess with, and certainly not someone I wanted to piss off. Kaiba was in _his_ seat. It would nothing but interesting to see what sort of crossfire this would create. Besides Atem, Kaiba and Marik had the strongest and most stubborn wills of anyone in this class of freaks, and neither was likely to back down.

One or both of them would probably leave first period with a pencil jammed in their face.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Marik hissed possessively, slamming a hand on the desk.

Kaiba didn't look impressed. "I'm preparing for class to start," he replied coolly. "What the hell do you want, Ishtar?"

I didn't see how he did it. Marik was scary as hell. I couldn't even look at him when he wore that expression, but Seto just glared at him, un-wavered by the blonde's aggression. Maybe he didn't know how unstable Marik Ishtar was; only Malik and I had seen the aftermath of one of Marik's little _fits_, after all, so it might have been safe to assume that Kaiba's confidence was fed by little more than ignorance. Still, I had to give it to him—had had some balls taking Marik's seat.

"I want my _desk_ back, motherfucker!" Marik snarled. "Now move your rich ass before I—"

"Before you _what_?"

Marik shook he was so angry. I whistled and he screamed, moving around Kaiba to come glare at me instead. I shrank a little in my seat while attempting to stand my ground. I wasn't as good at it as Seto was, at least not when Marik was involved. I flattened my eyes and tensed my muscles in preparation for his fury. It was difficult to look at him directly when he had those pretty eyes of his go all apeshit-crazy mode like that.

"Move him!" he demanded. _Dammit_… I was never very good at saying no to Marik. "Make him move!"

"What makes you think he can _make_ me do anything?" Kaiba came to my rescue as I just sat there and stared at Marik.

Marik returned his angry eyes towards Seto and I relaxed a little now that I was out from under his direct line of fire. "You're _buddies_ now, right? Spending all weekend together when Bakura and I were supposed to hang out!"

"Shut your jealous _cock-hole_ and go sit in the back, Ishtar," Kaiba grunted.

I seriously thought Marik might tear his face off.

So this was about jealousy? Damn… I had told Marik we'd hang, yeah, but he'd never gotten this upset over me not showing up before. He knew about Ryou and I, so I figured he's assume I had just 'slept' through it. How did he know I'd been at Kaiba's anyways? I didn't especially want to ask, because I'd learned a long time ago not to _ask_ Marik anything.

He snapped his eyes back towards me and I growled, leaning back some more from under his searing gaze. "You're seriously picking this rich prick over me?"

Were Seto and Marik seriously fighting over me? What the hell was happening?

"What's going on?" Malik poked his curious eyes over Marik's shoulder, blinking a little widely at the scenario. He knew Marik rarely went off on me like this. "You okay?"

"Don't touch me!" Marik snapped, causing his brother to purse his lips and look towards me for an explanation, which I didn't offer because I was too preoccupied with trying to keep my piss in my bladder. "The asshole stole my seat!"

Malik glanced towards Kaiba, who just glared at him, and shrugged. "So?"

"_So_?"

"We'll sit in the back. Come on."

Marik glowered at us before he permitted Malik to lead him to the back of the class, and that was the end of that. Well, for now. Marik would be back and he'd be sure to strike at Kaiba at some point. Kaiba looked especially proud of himself, however, and not really concerned with the consequences of his taking something from an Ishtar.

So…did this mean Kaiba and I were friends now, or something?

I was still a bit dazed from being nearly gut alive by Marik when Kaiba scolded me. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded in a low voice as our teacher entered the room. "You just take that shit from him?"

I nodded a little before lifting my eyes, smirking nervously. "You don't know Marik very well," I chuckled breathily. "Trust me, he's a nasty shit, and he'll destroy you if you mess with him. You're not on his good side right now," I informed. Kaiba didn't look concerned, but I didn't expect him to. He was Seto Kaiba; the only things that freaked him out, to my knowledge, were losing a game of Duel Monsters, his stock pit-falling overnight, or Mokuba being kidnapped (again). "I can't protect you from him, so just watch your step."

He snorted, folding his arms. "I don't need your protection. I'm not scared of Ishtar."

"You should be. I sure as hell am."

"I don't get why you just take that from him."

"Like I said, you don't know him as well as I do."

"Whatever."

"So," I switched back to my sarcastic mode, "you going to sit with me like this in every class? It's sort of cute how you're following me around all the sudden."

"You don't seem able to protect Ryou," he spoke evenly. My smirk fell into a frown. Ass… "So it looks like it's my job to keep you out of trouble."

"Why do _you_ care?"

"He tutors Mokuba."

"Again with that lame excuse, I see." I was getting tired of his games, so I angled my body back towards the board as class began. Seto might have tried arguing with me had the teacher not started speaking.

And so that was the beginning of my Monday.

* * *

Just over 8400 words and the chapter finally ends!

This chapter took a few twists I didn't intend for it to take, but whatever, it's finished. I was going to add more, like introducing Duke to the class, but I couldn't fit it in the 14 freaking pages this thing takes up, so I'll throw it in the next chapter, which will hopefully be a little shorter than this one. There was a lot of dialogue here though, so that's a lot of the reason why it was so long.

I might put in more of Bakura's "dreams" because I liked the small portion I included, even if it was just a few paragraphs.

Spent the last week writing parts for future chapters.

Chapter 7 has been started and Seto entertains me with his insecurities in the 6 pages I've written. Chapter 8 is in a few parts and will introduce another POV. Chapter 9 is already 6 pages, too. I've also written a few side-stories to go with the QE series, but I can't post them without giving spoilers, so they'll have to wait, unless you guys want them up anyways.

Going to go try and fart out chapter 5. I'm using my day off to catch up a little. If I can get to chapter 6, the story will pick up a little.

I know this chapter is sort of boring (to me it sort of dragged a little) so sorry for that!

- Patron


	6. Coming Out

Finally to chapter 5! Hopefully the story will pick up soon. I never really know what's going to happen until it happens – Bakura is very talented at throwing my plans off and doing his own thing.

Picking up just after Kaiba "invites" Bakura/Ryou to stay with him until he can figure out how to deal with their problems at home.

Another reminder that Malik = Yami Marik in my stories.

And by the way, thanks again to everyone that reads these random things! I am glad a few people have been enjoying this story! I am grateful for all of your comments!

* * *

**Chapter 5:** _Coming Out_

(Yami Bakura's POV)

Seto followed me around the rest of the day. In all of my classes he kept as close as possible, sitting in one of the four spots that desks might allow him to and glaring at anyone who got too close. He watched me as though he might be expecting something to happen, like I was some flower that could bloom at any second and that he intended to be the only one to get to see this occur.

Of course, I wasn't a flower, and Kaiba wasn't really waiting for anything. The truth was that he was just being overprotective of Ryou, and that was supposed to be _my_ job.

It was strange to be so closely watched by Seto for so long a time – strange and unnerving. I hadn't decided if I liked it yet or not. It freaked me out and pissed me off and made me anxious to the point that I thought I might hide in a bathroom stall just to escape his hard blue eyes. But at the same time, I'd never really been looked after by anyone before. It was sort of nice to think someone had my back, even if I didn't need any help. It was sort of nice having a friend that wasn't as unstable as I was for once.

Seto might be out to protect Ryou, but I could tell he liked me. I knew he liked me because he actually made conversation without me having to start it. Mostly, it was him questioning me about my home life. I usually ignored these questions but he'd inevitably get something out of me. But he asked me other things too, like what I might need at the mansion to be comfortable (I'm not joking; he actually asked me that). I'd told him a huge-ass stereo and a dart-board with Atem's face on it would be nice and he seemed to like the idea too.

We chatted for a while about various ways we could bother the model, coming up with numerous fun things for me to try. I didn't bring up the fact that I knew he'd had a crash on Atem a while back, mostly because I was actually enjoying having a conversation with Seto and didn't want to ruin it so early-on.

My day went by a good deal quicker than normal. I actually enjoyed going to school, maybe. Well, maybe not _enjoyed_ it, but not being completely isolated was nice. Before Seto had known about Ryou and I being different people, the only other person in class that I could be open with was Marik, and I was currently trying to avoid the blonde because he was still furious over the whole 'chair' incident in first period. The Egyptian sat close to me in all of the following periods and had done nothing but shoot amethyst hate in Seto's direction. The CEO had completely ignored Marik, however. Seto kept his eyes on me – he was smart enough that he could afford to ignore the teacher and book completely, so while I was actually paying attention to the lecture (for Ryou's benefit, of course), he spent his time studying me. This only infuriated Marik further. I wasn't sure what he might do, but I needed to keep an eye on him.

Seto was ignorant to Marik's…ways. He wouldn't stand a chance if Marik wanted to really cause him injury. I'd have to do something about it if that happened, but I wasn't sure what I could do, if anything at all, to protect him. I'd fought Marik before and the Egyptian was pretty strong when he was pissed. Seto would just stand there like he always did, too stubborn to run away, and I'd probably end up with a broken arm and a perfect impression of Marik's teeth in my shoulder.

Thinking about the possibilities made me nauseas, so I tried to keep focused either on class or Seto's level voice, because when we were between classes all he did was talk to me. That was unexpected, actually, hearing him talk so much. It was possible that since he rarely spoke to anyone other than Mokuba that he had a lot to say, and I guess I'd become his dump for conversation.

He ended up telling me his life story at lunch. I already knew about Seto's past because Mokuba had told me about it, but hearing it from his perspective was very different.

"Mokuba gave me his stock share to make me the majority share-holder so I could take the company over," Seto continued as I ate his lunch. He'd offered to buy me one but I'd decided to eat his instead since he never ate it himself.

I was sitting across from him at his personal nook in the cafeteria. At my left, a table down, was the pharaoh and his cheerleaders. Malik and Marik sat at the very end of that table, farthest from us, to create some distance between them and the rainbows that Yugi shot from his monstrously large eyes. The Mutou twins were watching Seto and I eat with fascination, but their friends mostly ignored us. Marik continued to shoot daggers at Seto, but Malik seemed preoccupied with freaking Tea out by staring at her.

"All I had to do then was fire my father to completely take control of Kaiba Corp," he finished, watching me eat his applesauce with a sort of bizarre fixation. "He wasn't very difficult to remove from our lives after that. He's living in Europe right now, and I don't think he'll ever be a problem again."

I scooped the last bit of sauce from the cup, dropping it back on Seto's plate as I spooned the soft substance in my mouth to finish off his lunch. "Sounds like it was a good plan," I commented, only paying half-attention to what he was saying because I was studying his eye color again.

"You father won't be a problem for me to handle. He can't possibly be worse than mine."

"I don't get why you're so _hooked_ on this." I sat back, breaking our vision so I could stretch my arms over my head. "So my dad beats me. Who gives a shit? I will be on my own by this time next year. Ryou will be safe and I'll vanish and everything will be as it should be."

"Is that what you expect to happen?"

I shrugged and rested my arms on the table again. "It seems to be the likely outcome. If it really is Zorc that caused me to come around, then it would make sense that should he be removed that I would vanish, right?"

"I suppose so." Kaiba studied me again. "I've already made up my mind that I'd help you and Ryou, so that's what I'm going to do.

"I don't get it." I glared at him, searching vainly for sign of motivation. "I don't want your help, nor do I need it, but I don't understand why you're so keen on offering it in the first place. Since when does Seto Kaiba take charity cases?"

"Let's just call it my good deed of the year," he replied dryly, making my face squish at his avoidance. He was good at that, avoiding questions. "It shouldn't matter why I'm helping. Just accept my assistance and stop whining about it like a preteen schoolgirl."

"Do you like Ryou or something?" I'd learned that trick from Mokuba. It worked, too, because Seto's face flashed red.

"Don't be fucking ridiculous," he growled, still red enough to make me grin. "And stop being a child. Just take my help and shut up."

"Aww. How cute. You _do_ like him," I cooed and leaned in closer, making him frown. "It's all right. You're a pretentious ass and my Light is a humble pussy; you balance one another. Do I have to go to the wedding? I hate weddings."

"I admit I don't have a _problem_ with Ryou," Kaiba ignored my nickname for my brighter half, "but don't assume that I have _feelings_ for him just because I'm offering my assistance. You make it really difficult to help you, you know."

"I never asked for your help," I reminded.

"I'll take you by your house after school and we'll get your things." There he went again, changing subjects.

I sighed and sat back, bored by his predictability. "I don't suggest that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't suggest it."

Seto snarled. "Whatever. Just get your shit to the house tonight."

"Pipe down. I'll get it all there in good time. I have stuff to take care of first."

"And why can't I come by the house?"

"Because I don't want you to?"

I hadn't thought it were possible for the corners of his lips to droop any deeper, but he someone managed it. "You're a real pain in the ass," he informed. "Do you know that?"

I chuckled and shrugged. "I never claimed to be any different."

He growled some and opened his mouth to say something but paused when seeing the look on my face. I was looking straight past him, arching my eyebrow at Atem, whom was right behind Seto, standing with another beautiful person that I didn't recognize.

The stranger had sea-green eyes and black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. His bangs were crazy and so black that I couldn't tell how the hell he'd gotten them into the shape they were in. He was a new guy—I'd certainly recognize a look like that. But he looked familiar at the same time.

I squinted my brown eyes in effort to remember his face while Seto turned to look over his shoulder at the party of two behind him. "Just what the hell do _you_ want?" he scowled.

Atem was unaffected by the CEO's grouchiness and went on smirking straight past him in my direction, forcing our eyes to lock. "I just thought I'd introduce my friend to you," he grinned. "This is Duke," Atem introduced.

Duke waved a little, obviously not completely sure why this was happening, either. "Yo." Kaiba redirected his scowl towards the new guy and Duke squealed a little, lifting his hands and taking a step back. "_Damn_…"

"Duke is my friend from work," Atem continued. "He models with me occasionally and just recently moved here, so I suggested this school."

"And I care _why_?" Kaiba's cold eyes jerked back to Atem, who remained unaffected, maybe even proud that he was the center of the rich teenager's attention.

I just watched all of this from the other side of the table, working to remember where I'd seen the new guy from. _Shit_… It was going to bother me.

"Duke here is looking to make new friends." The pharaoh smiled, patting a nervous Duke on the shoulder as the black-haired youth continued to stare at Kaiba, probably astonished to see such potent GTFO-vibes coming from one person's eyes. I was almost used to it now. Not immune, but used to it enough that I could keep eye-contact with Seto for a while without the blues of his eyes boring into my fucking _soul_. Duke was new and didn't have this tolerance, so he just stood there ogling Seto.

"I'm not hearing any reasons why the hell should I give a damn about any of this," Seto spat, his blue eyes hardening further.

Atem just kept on smiling.

"Holy _God_…" awed Duke, still staring at Kaiba. It had been a while since I'd seen someone experience Seto's glares of hate for the first time. It was pretty amusing. Seto just went right on ignoring Duke, though, keeping his hatred directed towards Atem.

It was time to put my Ryou-face on. "'Ello there," I smiled, working my hardest to keep the right expression and voice intact. Ryou could be difficult to wear, sometimes. My act must have startled Seto a little, though, because he broke his glare at Atem and softened his eyes as he turned them towards me. Maybe he thought I really was Ryou—though it would be the first time he'd mistaken us for one another since he'd found out the truth about us. He studied me as I spoke, and I saw the glimmer in his eyes when he realized what was happening. "My name is Ryou Bakura. I'm a transfer student from Britain. It's very nice to meet you."

"Oh," Duke broke his stare on Seto to turn towards me. He smiled and held out a hand, which I shook Ryou-gently while working to remember him. "Nice to meet you, too, Ryou. Duke Otogi Devlin," he smiled. "Most people just call me Duke or Otogi, though."

_Ah-hah!_

I smiled brighter and caught Seto's face twist a little with queasiness at my display. "'Ello there, Duke." Beaming like Ryou was the hardest part, but I managed to shoot out enough sparkles and rainbows to convince most people (with the exception of Seto, it seemed) that I was Ryou. Maybe Ryou on an off-day, but Ryou enough that they didn't suspect something else was going on. "I do hope you enjoy your first day of class. This is a fine scholastic establishment."

Seto gawked at me so I giggled, chuckling inwardly when his eyes dilated.

"I'm sure this is a good school," Duke agreed. "I only just got here now. I had a late meeting."

That seemed to get Seto's attention. "You're a businessman?"

Duke nodded. "Yeah. I own a couple places here and there."

Seto smirked devilishly. "Hopefully no rivaling companies."

"Nothing you'd need to worry about," Duke laughed.

I sensed a boring 'your stock, my stock' discussion coming on but the lunch bell rang and freed us, so I stood and grabbed my bags. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I'm sure we shall all get along splendidly." Seto went back to gaping at me and I took his hand, which only made his eyes enlarge and his face shoot red. Atem almost gasped at the motion, though Duke didn't catch what all the fuss was about as I pulled Kaiba towards the door to escape the pharaoh and his new friend. "_Goodbye_!" I chimed before jerking Seto into the hall and releasing him.

"What the fuck was _that_?"

"Hm?" I kept smiling and began to skip ahead.

Seto came after me, obviously thrown off. "Don't _ever_ do that again," he hissed once catching up to my stride.

I chuckled, safely distanced from the others enough to drop the act. "Oh relax. It was just to get a reaction from the pharaoh," I explained. Seto huffed and crossed his arms. "Did you see his face?" He snorted. "Priceless."

_-(Next Scene)-_

Duke seemed to fit in pretty quickly. By the end of the day, in Study Hall, he was sitting in the back of the class with Yugi and his friends. He seemed to make a sort of awkward addition to their group and I was pretty sure it wouldn't last. Nevertheless, Duke was friendly enough that he didn't seem bothered by their ways, so for now he seemed satisfied with his position.

Seto and I picked Mokuba up outside of his classroom before they headed back towards the house in that overdone limo of theirs. I took a bus back to my house to get my things. It was early, so I avoided Zorc fairly easily. I didn't bother to leave a note saying where I'd gone. I packed Ryou's clothing and necessitates in a duffel bag. The last thing to take was Mr. Foggles, whom easily fit in a small navy carrying case Ryou had gotten him a while back but hadn't ever had the chance to use.

I was back at the mansion before dinner with my bags.

Seto met me at the door, which surprised me. Usually he was working this early. "That's it?" He arched an eyebrow at how little I was carrying. "Where's the rest of your crap?"

I shoved past him. "We don't need much."

"You have _two_ bags." He closed the door as I set the duffel down.

"One."

Seto nodded his head towards my carrying case, which I was still holding. "I see two."

"This isn't a bag."

"What?"

Mokuba came running down the hall, seeming especially excited that I was there. "_Kura_!" he called, jerking to a shoe-squeaking stop. "You're back! Do you have everything? Are you ready?"

Not thrown off by the boy's enthusiasm, I nodded. "I think so."

His dark eyes dropped to my case. "What's that?"

"His non-existent bag," Kaiba growled. I unzipped part of it and Mr. Foggles popped his furry face out, making Seto release a cry that turned into a raspy, "_Fuck_!" My pet gave a few high-pitched yaps that made Mokuba squeal. He motioned to see if I would open the bag and hand Mr. Foggles over. "What the hell is _that_?" Seto snarled as I passed the ball of fur to a very excited Mokuba. Mr. Foggles licked at his face and the boy giggled before sitting on the floor to play with him.

"Mr. Foggles."

"Mr. _what_?"

"_Mr. Foggles_. He's our pet."

"I didn't know you had pets," Seto growled.

"You allergic to dogs?"

"That's a _dog_?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh come on, Seto. You mean to tell me that a rich big-shot like you doesn't know what a _Pomeranian_ is?"

"I didn't know you had pets," Seto growled. "I don't do dogs," he snarled, glaring death-rays at the happy Mr. Foggles, who proceeded to try and lick Mokuba's face off.

"He's _adorable_!" Mokuba laughed and fell back on the hardwood floor, allowing the Pom to crawl all over him. "We've never had a dog before! Hello, Mr. Foggles! My name is Mokuba, and this is your new home!"

The CEO winced when Mr. Foggles yapped in response. "Don't let him lick your face, Mokuba. There's no telling what sorts of germs that rat has."

"Mr. Foggles is perfectly clean," I mumbled protectively. "You're going to have to learn to tolerate him because he goes where Ryou goes. No exceptions."

Mokuba giggled, scooping the dog up as he stood. "So this is why you kept going back? You had to feed him and stuff, didn't you?"

"Ryou would have a fit if Mr. Foggles went a day without being fed or watered."

Seto snarled, turning abruptly to head back towards his office. "Get your shit moved in and keep the white rat away from me."

I watched him leave before turning my eyes towards the smaller Kaiba whom was still preoccupied with accepting Mr. Foggles' attention. "I guess it would make sense that he'd hate dogs. Shall we get my shit to my room?"

Mokuba giggled and nodded, walking towards the stairs while still holding my pet. I could tell that the Pom and Mokuba would be getting along just fine, but the tiny animal might cause some trouble for Seto. Mr. Foggles was quite fond of teasing people that hated him, especially when he knew they couldn't do anything about it.

I was led to a room across from Mokuba's, not far down the hall from Seto's. It was a pleasant and large room, well-decorated and open. It was all normal, at least, (no dragons to be seen so far) and I set my bag on the teal bed.

"What do you think?" Mokuba set Mr. Foggles down and the dog immediately scurried around the room to inspect his new living quarters. "Is it okay?"

"It's fine." I moved my brown eyes around, admiring the good taste in classic art and the antique furniture. Seto had an affinity for old things.

"If you need anything, let me know and I'll make sure you get it."

I picked up an antique music box from my nightstand, inspecting the detailed carvings in the marble. "I don't need very much.

"What about Ryou?"

I paused in consideration, tentatively returning the music box down where it had sat. "He doesn't ask for anything, really. Ryou and I aren't very materialistic."

"Well what about the necessities, then? Blankets? Bathroom stuff? Clothes?"

I glanced towards the bed and then looked back to the younger teenager. "We have all that already."

"I mean new stuff, to suit your tastes."

"None of that means anything to either of us. We use what we have and don't complain."

"You're missing the point." Mokuba watched as I went to look at the bathroom, which was complete with a marble shower and a massive bathtub that I looked forward to breaking in. Everything in this room was new and pristine. Obviously it hadn't ever been used and was regularly cleaned anyways by the staff (which I almost never saw, by the way; they were very talented at keeping low). "Big brother and I want to make sure you and Ryou are happy while you stay here. Decoration is a part of that. You should feel at home."

"The word _home_ doesn't have as warm implications to me as it might to you," I commented dryly.

"We'll change that, then."

I angled my body to look towards him. Mokuba was grinning, hands behind his back in his 'you can't argue with me' stance. "Ryou likes blues and whites and silvers," I finally caved. "I can give you exact colors to use. As for me, I am more partial to darker colors, like red and black. I like the Primary colors best, with a focus on deep reds and the occasional light blue and gold or pale yellow as an accent."

"Dang," Mokuba giggled. "I hadn't expected that you'd be so specific! I didn't know you were so interested in color, Kura."

"I like color." I walked out of the bathroom then, stopping in the middle of the bedroom and perching my hands on my bony hips. "Ryou and I have very different tastes. I normally let him decorate since the shit I use might unnerve him. He prefers pastels and kittens and sparkles and shit. We'll find a way to balance the decoration but it might take some time."

"What about just giving you both your own rooms?"

I turned to face him. "That seems a little much."

Mokuba wagged a finger at me as Mr. Foggles scurried around our feet, happy to be in the company of people. "We have a freaking _mansion_, Kura. There are plenty of rooms. Trust me: it's no problem at all. Besides," he turned to walk towards the hallway, "seeing a kitten poster beside a Marilyn Manson poster would probably make my brother flip, so let's just go get Ryou his own room and we'll decorate them separately."

I followed him, as did the dog. "I guess it seems easier to do that, I guess." It bothered me a little, the thought of using up two rooms for one body. Neither Ryou or I liked feeling wasteful, and I didn't enjoy getting so much crap given to me at once. Generally, I was a non-materialistic creature that needed very little to exist, but most of that was because Ryou and I shared everything. Having my own stuff would have its perks, but it still felt strange to think about things belonging to me, and just me, rather than 'us'.

This would take getting used to.

"We'll just use the room next to mine for Ryou." He stopped and looked up at me before he opened the door to Ryou's room, which was similar to mine but decorated with cooler colors than mine. "Do you think he'll be all right with all of this? Moving in with us, I mean? Ryou doesn't know about it yet, does he?"

"He'll be happy to be away from Zorc. He likes the both of you, anyways, and Ryou hardly ever complains, so I think it will work out to be easier on him than on me."

Mokuba frowned a little while I walked past him to look at the room just briefly. If this really was going to be Ryou's personal space, I somehow felt I might be violating it if I stuck around too long. "Are you unhappy by staying here, Kura?" he asked pitifully.

"I don't like feeling forced into something, even if it's for my own good." I walked out and he shut the door behind us once making sure Mr. Foggles was out. "I'm stubborn that way."

He nodded, looking a little distraught by my lack of shared enthusiasm. "Well, either way, I'm glad you're here."

I felt a hug coming on so I walked back to my own room to unpack my duffel. "I'll get used to it. By the way, be sure to get a litter-box."

Mokuba ran after me, his voice rising in pitch again. "You have a cat too?"

"I trained Mr. Foggles to use one," I explained and opened my bag to pull out the rolled-up clothing inside. "That way I could keep him indoors all the time. My father would have killed him had he seen Mr. Foggles, so he had to be a secret."

"Your dog uses a litter box?" he laughed. "That's so silly."

"Lots of small dogs do."

"Keeping him a secret for that long mus have been hard since he barks so loudly."

I shrugged. "He's been trained to bark on command, and once you teach a dog to do that, it's not so hard teaching them to not bark unless they're instructed."

"I like his little hair-bits," Mokuba giggled, scooping the dog up with one hand and poking at his styled 'wings' with the other.

"Mr. Foggles is just like me," I snickered, crossing my arms over my chest proudly.

Mokuba laughed. "You think of yourself as small, fluffy, yappy, and adorable?"

"He might be small, but he's got plenty of spunk." I dumped the rest of the contents of my duffel on the bed. "And he doesn't take shit, either. Don't let him fool you—mess with Mr. Foggles and he'll bite your fingers off."

"I believe that. Do you think he'll ever get along with big brother?"

"In their own way," I nodded, smirking with amusement as I imagined the possibilities.

Mr. Foggles would prove to be an amusing addition to the house, and he'd make living here a good deal less uncomfortable for me. Ryou would be fine staying at the Kaiba mansion indefinitely, but I didn't like being babied and Seto seemed fond of babying anyone he deemed important in his life, which I guess now included Ryou. I got tossed in the circle because I came with him.

A part of me hoped that Ryou and Seto would bond because that would definitely prove to be good for my lighter half. If Seto actually cared, he'd protect Ryou and he'd probably be able to do it better than I ever could. But another part of me stung when thinking about it. I'd get to experience everything my other half did, meaning I'd have to stomach a mushy Seto, and that made me sick just considering it.

"I am really glad you agreed to stay with us, Kura," Mokuba smiled broadly. He did very little to hide his joy and my stomach churned as I tried to digest it. He was almost as bad as Yugi sometimes. Not _as_ bad, but almost. "You'll be safe here with us. Seto's really good at protecting me, so I'm sure he can help protect you and Ryou from your dad, too!"

"I don't need his protection," I growled, making the boy's head sink a little in his shoulders. "I'm doing this for Ryou, not for me."

"I understand…"

Unable to tolerate Mokuba's pitiful expression, I changed the subject. He was easily enough distracted. "We need that litter-box," I reminded. "So let's go to the store."

"Okay!"

This was the beginning of a strange relationship between us and the Kaiba brothers.

Living with Seto and Mokuba wasn't that bad. Seto was only really around for a few hours a night and sometimes I didn't see him until after I'd put the kid to bed. He was pretty easy to make conversation with and I enjoyed spending time with him when I got the chance. We still fought—_a lot_—but it was never anything like when I fought with Marik. Sure, I might have thrown a few priceless jars at him, and he might have tried to shank me a couple times with butter-knives, but it wasn't really anything more than harmless banter in the end.

Mokuba and Mr. Foggles bonded pretty damn fast, but I couldn't say the same for the Pom and Seto. Mr. Foggles knew Seto couldn't hurt him (between Mokuba and Ryou and I, he was practically untouchable), so Seto just had to tolerate the dog's eccentricities.

One of Mr. Foggles' favorite things to do was to interrupt Seto while he worked, barking in carefully-timed intervals that gave the CEO just long enough to recover his thoughts and return to work before the dog would give a single _yap_. And then Seto would scream at Mr. Foggles and the dog would whine and go running to Mokuba, who would proceed to scold his brother.

"That thing's going out of his way to bother me in my work!"

"He's a _dog_, Seto!" Mokuba would yell back. "He's not that smart! You're just being paranoid! Now stop teasing Mr. Foggles!"

Seto would growl and give Mr. Foggles an "_I'll get you one day, you little bitch_" glare before returning to his study, and I'd laugh because I'd just observe the whole thing from a distance. Later, I'd give Mr. Foggles some cheese in congratulations for his efforts.

Every day I went to school with Seto, ate lunch with Seto, and came home with Seto. It was a lot of Seto, but I somehow never got bored with him.

When I wasn't awake, Ryou seemed to be getting along with the Kaibas – maybe even better than I was. He regularly cooked them meals (apparently Kaiba is a fan of Ryou's pastries) and of course looked after Mokuba while the older brother was working.

Everything seemed to be going pretty well and even I had to admit that living at the mansion was almost pleasant. I didn't have to worry about going home anymore, and I hadn't yet heard anything from our father. Zorc seemed to have decided we weren't worth the trouble and was leaving Ryou and me alone, at least for the moment, which gave the both of us time to breathe and adjust and maybe even enjoy our lives.

The only thing that could make my almost-existence better was the opportunity to go to class and not have to put on my Ryou-act. Nowadays Ryou went to school more than I did (I was starting to wake up in evenings more often like I had done before), but there were still plenty of days that I had to take his place in the classroom between Seto and another peer.

Marik was still avoiding me and still hated Kaiba (whom he had yet to smite for stealing his chair a week and a half ago, which only meant he was planning something), but he'd made a new friend. Duke had shifted to spending the majority of his days with the Ishtars, having left the Friendship Tribe to sit in the back with Marik and Malik. He fit in with those two better, anyways, in my opinion. Duke was a free spirit and couldn't really be himself with Yugi and Atem and the rest of the morons. (I was also pretty sure if they knew what sorts of businesses he owned that Atem's little happy-herd would throw Duke out, anyways.)

Word on the street was that Duke and Marik were dating, and by how they were pawing at one another in class it didn't exactly surprise me. They got along well, from what I could tell. Marik was rash and rough around the edges, and Duke was actually a fairly gentle thing that was able to help translate Marik's sharp words into more digestible sentences. That, and they were both whores.

I couldn't tell how much Malik had decided he liked Duke yet but it didn't look like they were bets-friends-forever. Malik tended to get along with anyone that tolerated his insanity, which Duke did, so they weren't at odds or anything.

Atem was pissed that Duke had been taken from him. He often glowered at the three at lunch, sipping at his strawberry-flavored Slim Fast and complaining about it to the rest of the morons.

Yugi spent most of lunch trying to get away with nonchalantly watching Seto and I sit together and make casual chit-chat, which tended to revolve around Mokuba, homework, ways to mess with Atem, and the occasional Mr. Foggles _complaint-of-the-day_. The tiny Game King seemed quite interested in the way Seto and I interacted. I decided this was because Seto had never allowed anyone to sit with him before 'Ryou' moved over there and was suddenly accepted, and this fascinated him.

This particular day was a Thursday and I was on the verge of strangling Atem, whom had decided it would be a good decision to come try and talk to me while Seto was out of the classroom. It took every last thread of patience to keep me from strangling him with his own jacket.

"You're sure you're feeling all right, Ryou?" He watched my eye twitch once he'd finished whining about something I really wasn't listening to. "You've been acting sort of strange as of late… And what's with hanging out with _Kaiba_, anyways? You've never done that before."

I began to feel my brain coming undone.

"Why don't you come sit with us at lunch today?"

_Shit_… I couldn't lose it here in class or Ryou would never forgive me. Still…it might be worth it to get my hands around the pharaoh's scrawny little neck and ring him senseless.

My brown eyes dilated a little and I shivered in my seat, gritting my teeth as I begged my brain to keep it together for just a little while longer. Seto would come back any second now and scare the freak off, but Atem's obnoxious grin was about to push me over the edge.

"Come on, Ryou," he urged, smiling again and making another thread snap. My eyes enlarged as I gripped the edge of my desk with my cold, white fingers. The Ryou-sparkles were shutting down because I couldn't feed them anymore while staring at this fool. It seemed that the drop in rainbow-shield didn't make it past Atem, whose eyelids slightly drooped. The corner of his mouth curved up slightly and he further prodded me in that obnoxiously deep voice of his. "What's wrong, Ryou? You look upset."

Okay. Fine, pharaoh.

Have it your way.

"I'm not Ryou." I growled low and rough as I slipped out of my facade.

Atem kept on looking at me though he seemed slightly surprised at my response. "What was that?"

"I'm not _Ryou_." My face twisted and I tensed, my hair bristling violently as I allowed myself to drop my Light entirely.

Atem watched this transformation with wide, red-violet eyes and looked like he was questioning his pushing now that it was well past being too late. "…Wh…what do you mean?" He took a step back as I glared hard at him with my red-brown eyes; I was sure they'd explode because I could feel the veins surging behind him. "What are you talking about…?"

"Allrighty then…" I tilted my head, still grinning toothily like a maniac, and stood at my desk. Seto came back into the classroom just in time for my little announcement. He stopped to watch me and I knew he knew something bad was about to happen. Everyone else watched me, too, but they were ignorant.

"I would like all of your attention, please!" I glanced around the room, making eye contact with anyone that bothered to be brave enough to look me in the face while I was going mad. Marik was watching me especially careful in the corner with a wide-eyed Duke, but Malik wasn't even paying attention. He was too preoccupied with pasting pieces of construction paper together (I have no idea where he found it) and eating them like sandwiches. It was a little comfort to know Ryou and I weren't the craziest ones in the class, though it was probably debatable.

"In case you all haven't noticed," I did nothing to mask the differences between Ryou's voice and my own, "lately I've been acting rather _strange_. Well, there's a damn good reason for that." Yugi's massive eyes somehow got larger when I cursed and I rolled my head towards him, smiling widely. I then swept my brown eyes back towards Seto, who was gawking at me from the doorway, silently begging me not to do what I was about to do. But he couldn't stop me. "I am _not_ Ryou Bakura," I announced.

The room remained silent, but I now had everyone's attention, even Malik's. Our teacher had sunk deep in her chair, nearly hiding under the desk at my display of un-jarred insanity.

Seto groaned as I snickered and got on my chair. "My name is Bakura," I introduced myself, "and I am Ryou's imaginary friend. That's right! I am an imaginary friend! If you've got a _problem_ with that, well you can just keep your bullshit to yourself and shut the fuck up because I don't give shit anymore about what the any of you think! From hereon out I'm not going to pretend to be Ryou anymore, got it? I've grown weary of this act and can't tolerate any of Ryou's _obnoxious_ little friends anymore! So fuck you, Pharaoh!" I directed at Atem, who gasped dramatically and took a horrified step backwards, only making me cackle. "And fuck you, and you, and you!" I threw my finger at the happy squad of Atem's followers but paused and skipped over Yugi to continue my cursing for several other people before feeling satisfied enough to drop off my desk to down again. "Ahh… Yes. Okay. I feel better." I leaned my head back and gave a devilish snicker. "All right! On with the lesson!"

Seto was going to kill me.

* * *

Just over 6400 words! I tried keeping this chapter shorter but there will be side stories that take place in this bit, what with such fun to be had with Bakura and the Kaibas living together.

There will be a story from Kaiba's POV that's just about him and the Pom, and is planned to be full of humor and Seto-teasing! Just imagining someone like Seto Kaiba screaming "Damn You, Mr. Foggles!" across the length of his massive hallway just makes me laugh. My roommate and I decide if I ever get another Pomeranian (I have a black one named Kuro and he's adorably eccentric 3) that he'd have to be named after Mr. Foggles, because it's just so amusing.

Another short story will revolve around Ryou/Bakura and Mokuba going on errands. I'd initially planned on putting a scene of that in this chapter (it was originally going to be titled "There's a Snickers in Me-Pants!") but I ran out of room!

On to the next chapter! And thanks again for reading!

-Patron


	7. New Rules

Now that Bakura's been 'exposed' I get to play with him some more at school. Atem's pretty proud of himself for forcing Bakura in the open, and he's about to cause my poor baby some serious pain in this chapter! At least Bakura doesn't have to pretend to be Ryou anymore.

Sorry this update's a little later than usual, btw. I attended AWA last weekend so that took up a majority of my focus. I am currently reading/critiquing some of my friend's fanfics and maybe helping out with some art, as well as working on props and stuff for my cosplays, so I've been fairly preoccupied with all of that this week! But here you go!

Chapter 7 should be up this week, and chapters 8 & 9 will be posted very soon after that.

And forgive some of the crappy dialogue. I haven't been able to focus very well today! *makes more coffee* x_x;;

* * *

**Chapter 6:** New Rules

_(Yami Bakura's POV)_

"You don't _really_ think you're an imaginary friend, do you?"

The Counselor's office was a boring place. There was hardly any color at all. I'd been in this room several times before, as I might have mentioned in the past. This lady was convinced that Ryou was not only insane but that he needed to go on medication and attend special classes or whatever. This bitch wasn't about to force me to do anything, and that included being tossed into a Special Ed class, or whatever the hell she had on her thin mind.

This having been said, I wasn't especially listening to her, but rather kept myself busy by searching the office for any redeemable qualities while waiting for Seto to show up. He was mortified by my coming out in class earlier that day and was flat-out refusing to even come near me for the moment, horrified now that he was associated with a publicly crazy person. Until he came around and rescued me from being thrown into a looney-bin (he'd never permit that because at this point he actually liked me), I'd have to tolerate this psychobabble nonsense.

The counselor sighed when I didn't respond to her question and tried forcing me to look at her, but I just kept shifting my eyes around the room, looking busy and ignorant to her existence. "Ryou," she breathed. I didn't respond, so she tried again, this time firmer. "_Bakura_."

My eyes jerked towards her and I sensed her uneasiness. She used my name, at least, and it was time I trained all the monkeys how to properly use it.

"Bakura, how about you tell me a little about yourself?" The blonde smiled, trying to mast her anxiety, and pushed her small glasses up the roof of her nose to keep her shaky hands busy.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: I hate blondes.

"I can tell you that I'm pissed that you broke my schedule by bringing me in here for a meaningless hour of chit-chat," I grinned, my eyes widening a little crazily so I could snicker at how she fidgeted again. "I don't like my schedules being broken. So when are you going to let me go back to class? It's almost lunch time and I have a date to keep." My stomach snarled to express its emptiness; Seto's lunch was sounding especially good right now.

"We haven't figured out what to do with you just yet."

I glared at her and she squeaked a little, completely uncertain of how to handle someone that was actually insane. "Listen," I growled before standing upright, "I don't have time for this. Ryou and I are busy people. I've got homework to do and class to attend, so I'll catch you later."

I moved towards the door but she stood and put a hand against it. My red-brown eyes slowly tilted towards the smaller woman but she stood her ground, pressing her lips into a line. "I can't let you do that. You're mentally unstable and I cannot allow you to return to class until I figure out what the problem is and how to properly manage it. You're insane, you know, if what you're telling me is what you actually think."

I threw my head back and laughed, causing the Counselor to take a wary step back from me. "If you _really_ want to talk to someone off the deep-end," I grinned cattishly, "why don't you talk to Malik Ishtar and leave me the fuck alone?"

She tried to stop me but I was already out of the door and back in the hallway before she could gather the guts to try. I would have stuck around (it was a good excuse for missing class), but I had lunch on my mind and was determined to keep my routine of bothering Seto.

Would he even bother to stick around after this morning? Probably not. He was all about face, and sitting with me would make him look bad. To avoid me for the rest of today, he'd probably have gone home by now – just to be safe. Though he also must have taken into consideration that the staff might try to kick me out or tie me down, which he'd never tolerate, so he might have skipped off to do some paperwork to keep them from grabbing me.

I really never knew what to expect from Seto. He was the rare sort of person I had difficulty reading in times like these. There were so many roads he could take and he was always so tedious with thinking it all through that it was nearly impossible to be sure what the brunette had planned.

Even so, it was surprising to see him waiting for me at our usual spot, his tray having already been slid across to my side of the table. He was staring at his phone again, mindlessly responding to a text message like he always did when alone at lunch. I slid in my usual seat and watched as he did this, ignoring me until he'd completed his mission and put his expensive bit of technology back in its usual spot on the table. Seto lifted his blue gaze to meet mine, studying me for a long moment before he finally spoke. "You're a complete fool," he mumbled flatly. "Do you know that? Do you know what sort of problems you're going to be causing us?"

"Who's _us_?" I bit into a biscuit, flicking off a bit of corn that had stuck to the outside. I wasn't a fan of any vegetable.

"Me, you, and Ryou," he grunted. "Now everyone thinks you're completely insane and it's going to affect everything you or I do."

"And _why_ does it affect you?"

"Because you're associated with me." He pulled his tray away, making me frown and glare at him, but he had my attention and that was really all he wanted. I rolled my eyes and got situated for another boring discussion about my insanity. "I'm legally bound to you now, you know, since I became Ryou's legal guardian. If you're insane, that means I am held at least partially responsible for your instability."

"Whatever. I'm not going to pretend to be Ryou anymore. You can't make me."

"Oh?"

I frowned, still not permitting myself to make eye contact with him. "I can't go back now. Everyone knows. There's no reason to lie about it anymore. I don't see what the big deal is, anyways. So I'm insane." I shrugged and turned my eyes back towards him, but Seto was now looking at someone else. The Game King twins were standing beside him, smiling at the both of us in their awkward way.

The smaller one, whom I neglected to condemn before because he'd never done anything to me yet that I'd deemed worth condemning, was looking especially nervous, but he kept that freakish smile of his on his round face.

The pharaoh was grinning, smirking almost, in my direction, bypassing Seto's blue glares completely. Atem seemed quite proud of himself for forcing me to come out of my hiding place, and my eyes constricted in the model's direction.

I didn't have to pretend anymore, and all the anger that had welled inside of me was prepared to flood out on anyone who irritated me.

"So," Atem huffed and folded his arms across his chest, "that was quite a show you put on back there—_Bakura_." I really hated how he said my name, but I hated how he said Ryou's name too. Just the sound of his crazy voice was obnoxious, but him not speaking to me at all might help wash out some of that. Instead he insisted on talking to me, it seemed, so I just growled. "Do you really think you're an 'imaginary friend'?"

"You're like a split personality, right?" Yugi piped in.

I kept my eyes on the smaller one so I wouldn't lose it again. "Something like that, I guess."

"How long has this been going on?" Yugi seemed actually interested in Ryou and me; he was the unwavering, supportive sort of person that I never understood. The Game King always threw me off with how open and accepting he was. Even being insane didn't seem to faze him. He just kept right on blinking those freaking enormous purple eyes at me, smiling the entire time in attempt to reassure me that he wasn't going to kick me or something.

"This is the third year."

Atem kept right on smirking and glaring, and I kept my brown vision settled on Yugi while allowing Seto to snarl at the pharaoh for me.

"Three years? Wow… I had no idea it was going on that long," Yugi awed. "I mean…I knew something was up, but…three _years_…"

"Until this semester, I didn't show up to school very often," I explained. "We're not sure what caused me to start waking up more in the school-day, but, whatever. Here I am. We don't have control over the change of who's in charge, and frankly I just got sick of pretending we were normal." I reached over and pulled Seto's tray back, causing him to look back towards me as I took a mouthful of white rice with his spork. "Ryou will be back, but there's no way of knowing when."

"So you don't know what caused this to happen?"

"I don't especially care," I admitted. "I exist, and that's that. Now then, could I please return to my lunch? I was having a pleasant time of arguing with Seto here about what to do about my insanity." The CEO eyed me but I only smiled.

"I knew something weird was going on," Atem growled. "You're a total ass. Ryou's such a darling. There was never any way he'd do or say some of the crap that's been going on when you've been around, Bakura." There he went, saying my name again. My lip curled some but that only seemed to feed his self-satisfaction. "You're a scoundrel."

That made me laugh. "Did you hear that, Seto?" I leaned back in my seat, grinning madly. "I'm a _scoundrel_."

"You're a pain in the ass, is what you are," he corrected.

I snickered. "Well, that too."

Atem hissed before turning on the ball of his foot and grabbing his brother's wrist, making Yugi whine. "Come on, Yugi. Let's leave the asses to hate the world and go back to the good table."

Yugi waved sheepishly as he was tugged away, giving us a shy goodbye before his twin forced him to return to their side of the cafeteria.

"See?" I finished the rice and Seto kept glowering at me. "That wasn't so bad. Nobody cares that I'm unstable, so you can go right back to worrying about your stocks and let me be me for once. Besides, it's probably best that you're connected to me and not to Ryou, right?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Ryou's a pussy. He can go back to sitting with the happy little morons and when I'm around, you'll have me. I'll make you look less pathetic."

He grunted, but that was about it as far as a response.

No one else bothered us at lunch, but Atem spread the news of my secretive existence faster than I might have been able to do with a freaking loud-speaker. By the end of the day, everyone knew about Ryou and I, and that was just fine with me.

Tomorrow I could come as Bakura.

Things would be quite different from now on.

Going to school was tolerable now. I was able to yell and scowl and be as vulgar and obnoxious as I wanted to be without having to worry about making Ryou look bad. My Light was especially upset about the whole thing, especially about how I went about exposing our secret, but I was fairly certain he was happier now that he didn't have to be as paranoid as before.

Ryou wasn't shunned by anyone who cared to talk or hang out with him before, and I was able to avoid most contact with his friends now that I didn't have to be nice to them.

The dog was now aware of how much I despised him (in case he wasn't sure, I left him dog biscuits in his locker with a photograph on it of him in that ridiculous dog costume he'd once been forced to wear). Atem and I were now trying to kill one another on a daily basis as it should be, and nobody questioned why Seto and I sat together.

Things were going pretty well. The Ishtars had even decided that I was worth their time and now sat at lunch with Seto and me. Of course, that meant Duke came along too, so there were now five of us at the once Kaibas-Only table.

Since I'd been exposed, class was a bit rowdier, especially since Marik forgave me for 'betraying him' and returned to sit beside me (though he still hated the brunette) with Malik and Duke around him. We were pretty loud, and our vulgarities and playtime usually led to us getting thrown in detention every day, but it also succeeded in scaring off our teacher. She'd apparently had enough of our class of freaks and decided to take an early retirement. We were now plowing through a new substitute teacher every few days (they never really lasted more than four).

Over the last couple of weeks, I'd still been attempting to locate the secret passage to Seto's room but had no luck just yet. I watched him go into that room down the hall from mine and Mokuba's every night, so he had to sleep in there. But when I poked my head in, he was never in that room. It was a mystery I had every intention of solving. Mokuba wouldn't tell me shit, but I didn't mind the hunt, so every night before bed was spent figuring out where Seto went.

One day I'd solve the riddle.

In the meantime, I was trying to ignore how _curious_ Atem was becoming about my Light. They were talking more often now than they ever had before, and Ryou sat with him and Yugi and the rest of the love-zombies at lunch.

It made me sick to think that the pharaoh might even be considering doing something that I might have to skin him for, but I knew it was coming. He looked at Ryou in a nauseating fashion that I knew meant, "_I want to screw you so hard right now._" Ryou was innocent enough to remain naïve and I could only hope this gave me a little time to plot a way to keep them apart.

It was a Tuesday, and I was awake for the first time in a morning for the last week. Ryou had been going to class and I'd been waking up around dinner time, which left me with helping Mokuba force-feed Seto before putting the kid to bed and distracting his older brother from work with some light conversation.

Never a morning person, I was still groggy from having been forced to crawl from bed and come into the kitchen to get my coffee and Cocoa Puffs. I was sitting at the table, looking disheveled and half-awake, spooning the chocolaty balls into my mouth and hoping my coffee kicked in soon. Ryou's memories were still foggy, so I just waited for them to surface while trying to enjoy my breakfast.

Mokuba was ready to go but he was always quick to perk up in the mornings. His brother was typically awake earlier than the rest of us and this was one of the rare times of day that you could actually get his full attention for a few minutes. He always had his plain bagel and coffee while reading the paper. On a few rare occasions I'd seen him get fancy and have a croissant, but I'd never seen the brunette consume egg (and I bet sausage or bacon would make him barf).

Today didn't seem to be one of those _special_ days. Seto was sitting across from me, sipping at his black coffee and taking the occasional bite of his bagel as he ran his blue eyes over the paper like he always did, and I could safely assume that he was reading the Business section.

I never really read the paper. If I were interested in learning about what was going on in the world, I'd just ask Seto, but I did prefer to read the news over watching it. There was something comforting about reading and I didn't especially enjoy much television.

Ryou's memories began to lift in my mind and I stopped eating my cereal while headaches came with the images. There was some aspirin on the table with a glass, already set out for me by Mokuba, and I downed the little pills to help ease my pained disorientation. Seto's eyes shifted to watch me as I leaned forward and made a nauseated expression. He had a sort of fascination with my insanity and always observed it when he had the chance.

I groaned and leaned forward so that my forehead was resting on the wooden table, and rubbed gentle circles into my temples.

"Feeling all right?"

"_Mngh_…"

I could sense Mokuba watching me from the other side of the kitchen. Mr. Foggles pawed at the pant-leg of my blue school uniform and gave a couple yaps to alert everyone that I was in my 'transfer' state, because that's what he always did. It looked like everyone was concerned about me, and that was just annoying. Being treated like some child with a disability was obnoxious, but I couldn't do much to stop their pity when I was like this, so I just took mental notes to complain about their habits later and focused on absorbing Ryou's memories and moving on with the rest of my day.

I hadn't been awake for a couple of days, so the headache was especially bad this time. It was always like that but it never ceased to be a bother.

I clawed a little at the table as the memories lodged into my brain.

I never had a choice if I wanted to accept these memories or not, and before today I'd never really felt the need to deny a memory entrance into my logs, but today…I really wished I could block them off today. An internal Berlin Wall would have been nice, because I was getting to experience everything my Light had done over the weekend, and I wanted…to die.

I lifted my eyes, groaning out a long, pained noise. I don't think I'd ever made that sound before, but it was the only thing I could come up with to keep the bile down in my throat. Seto and Mokuba watched me as I hit the table over and over with a fist, groaning and whimpering before shaking my head. I wailed and stood, nearly tumbling over my own chair in the process. "_Nnngh_! Dammit! Son of a _bitch_!"

"Bakura?" Mokuba came over to try to inspect me, but I was busy growling and throwing my head around. "What's the matter? Are you okay?"

"_No_, I'm not okay!" I yelled before roaring in Seto's direction. He just sat there and stared at me like he always did, but this time there was some interest on his face. "_You_!" I threw a finger at him. "I am going to _kill_ you!"

"What did _I _do?"

I ground my teeth. "You let him do it!"

"Do what?" Mokuba pressed. "Bakura, what's going on?"

"Your brother let Ryou go on a date with the damn _pharaoh_, that's what!" I was furious. And mortified. And disgusted. Mostly disgusted. The last thing I needed was visions of Atem in my head, especially ones where 'I' was feeling all warm and bubbly and shit. I certainly didn't need to swap spit with him, and I didn't need anything else that happened after that! (I could at least be glad the pharaoh hadn't screwed Ryou yet, because then I'd probably have to slit my wrists). Damn Atem! Damn Ryou! "_Damn_ you, Seto!" I shrilled. "How could you let him do that? You _know_ how I feel about the pharaoh!"

"I don't like it either," he replied flatly, "but Ryou was quite adamant on getting his way. If it makes you feel any better, I tried talking him out of it."

"I remember! You should have tried _harder_!"

"I can't force Ryou to do anything."

"_Bullshit_! You force me to do crap all the time!"

"Ryou's different." He went back to his bagel and I just got angrier.

"What do you mean, he's different?" I shrieked. "We're the same bloody person!"

"Not really." He sipped at his coffee and lifted the paper to block me from his field of vision.

I really thought my eyes were going to explode. "So, what? I am stuck with this? I have to tolerate this?"

"I can't speak for Ryou, but it's safe to say that yeah, that's the case, at least for the moment. You might as well get used to it." The corner of Seto's lip lifted a little and I could tell he was almost as disgusted by my predicament as I was. He had a thing for Ryou, this much I was aware of, so he was at least irritated at the thought of my Light going out with Atem. "They're rather disgusting together, actually. Ryou's pretty attached."

"I damn bloody know!"

He turned his hard eyes towards me and I winced. "Are you going to deal with this like an adult," Seto's voice was firm, "or do I need to put you in time-out like a five-year-old?" I snorted and crossed my arms. "Good. Now then, finish your breakfast. We have school."

School…

Atem would DIE.

_-(Next Scene)-_

"Fucking _whore_!" I grabbed the back of Atem's navy blazer, jerking him out of his chair. "I'm going to fucking _kill_ you!" My face was red and my eyes were almost the same color by now. I was gritting Ryou's blunt teeth hard enough that one might crack, and my entire body was tight. I wanted to rip off the fucking midget's face!

He just smiled at me, somehow unfazed by my wrath, which only made the veins in my forehead swell. "Good morning, Bakura," he mewed. My face shot a deeper shade of red at that tone, a tone I was now familiar with. Die, pharaoh! "I see you're awake. It's been a few days, hasn't it?" My eyes enlarged when he reached out and touched my forearm, grinning coyly. "What's the matter? You look a little upset about something… I trust it doesn't have anything to do with my dating Ryou." I was too overwhelmed by a mix of hated, disgust, and sick attraction towards the spiky-haired fool to do anything but snarl. "Don't worry, Bakura. I'm taking good care of him." His eyeliner-rimmed eyelids lowered slightly and I hissed. "_Very_ good care of him."

As much as I wanted to, as much as I was capable of it, I couldn't hurt him. Atem knew this. Ryou liked him too much and that meant the pharaoh was off-limits.

I roared and shoved him back into a desk, my white hair bristled and my face hot as I stomped away. I couldn't do anything else but make a fuss—well, that and kick over a desk, which I did.

Until Ryou and the pharaoh broke up, I was forced to tolerate him.

I collapsed into my chair and leaned forward, half-burying my face in my arms as I tried thinking of things that didn't piss me off.

Chocolate. Dogs. Stripes. Colors.

"Well," Seto grunted, "_that_ went over well."

"Shut the fuck up…"

"If it makes you feel any better, I empathize."

I stared at the chalkboard, my eyelids half-shut. "It doesn't." Camping. Music. British Teas. Fire. Food. "Maybe if you fucked Ryou, he'd leave Atem," I suggested.

Kaiba choked out a nervous grunt, his face shooting pink. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not gay, and even if I were, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't help."

I huffed at that. "Whatever you say, Bright Eyes."

"So what are you going to do?"

I sighed and sat back, now having managed to relax my nerves enough that I wasn't thinking about peeling off the pharaoh's skin every two seconds. "What am I going to do? I'm going to stomach this shit."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Why?"

"Because, believe it or not, very little makes Ryou genuinely happy," I sighed, rubbing my temple with one hand. "I can't very easily deny Ryou the chance to be happy, even if it tortures me like this."

"That's awfully considerate," Seto grunted, unimpressed by my sudden willingness to cooperate – or _tolerate_, at least.

"It doesn't mean I have to like it, or that I won't rip out the pharaoh's spleen when this is all over."

And so now I was stuck with him.

Three weeks passed. It was early October, and my desire for Ryou to be happy was gradually killing me inside. Every time I woke up I'd have to experience the nightmare of Atem being all over me – and what's _worse_ was the feeling of how much pleasure it brought me via my Light.

I wanted to die.

Correction: I wanted _Atem_ to die. How dare he violate my Light in these disgusting ways?

I was shuddering at the breakfast table when Seto entered and sat down across from me with his coffee and bagel. I knew he felt legitimately bad for what I was being forced to go through. He could always tell how upset I was over the unwanted recollections of the pharaoh touching me in ways that made me want to rip off my own skin and I almost appreciated the pity in this situation.

I fidgeted in my chair while forcing my thoughts to focus on my breakfast, but I could feel my face turning a strange shade between pink and green. The shivering couldn't be helped much, but I willed my muscles still when I began to feel them jerk again. My eyes widened a little, still fixated on my bowl of half-eaten (now soggy) cereal, as I felt a wave of pleasure hit me which was so strong that it forced me to draw out a thick moan. I cursed as I leaned my head forward to hide my red expression, my hands clenched tightly to Ryou's pajama-pants.

Kaiba watched all of this very quietly and I knew he knew what was happening. It wasn't surprising that he found my torment so amusing. He was a bastard, after all, and once this was all over I'd let him know that. But for the moment I was trying my hardest to not puke or get overexcited at the breakfast table.

God. This was so fucking humiliating…

I'd rather cut my own dick off than think about…

I put a hand to my mouth and felt my stomach convulse. God. I might seriously hurl.

Kaiba stood up and walked around to stand beside me, kneeling down to give me a strangely pathetic and pitiful look that made me want to let myself puke on his pretty face. "Is it that bad?" I just nodded, unable to remove my hand in fear I might actually barf. "This is ridiculous," he grunted. He could have been teasing me for not being able to stomach Ryou and Atem's passions, or maybe he was just irritated about them forcing me to experience it. "You shouldn't go to class if you're like this. How much is there left? A lot?" I nodded. "I never would have thought Ryou as being so…" He trailed off when I growled out a pathetic noise. "Anyways—you should stay home. I've got a meeting to attend, so I can't go to class and I don't think you'll do very well by yourself around the prick." _Prick_, of course, referred to Atem. "I'll have the driver take Mokuba to class." Seto patted me on the shoulder before standing and wandering out to leave me to my privacy.

He'd actually come across as concerned this morning, but that just made me want to barf on him even more.

Unable to stand it, I shot up from my chair and ran to my room, locking myself inside to keep the rest of the world shut away. I didn't want anyone to see me like this. I didn't want to feel this way. I didn't want to be infatuated by Atem or have the images of him in my mind that were coming so hard and so fast. The only safe place for me was my blue and yellow room but I couldn't just go back there to hide when I wanted to.

God, how I wished I had a retreat or have, a safe place in which I could retract and shun everything else so it was only me and my own thoughts and my own will. But such a place didn't exist; it would never exist. I was cursed to experience these memories over and over, every time I woke up, and I had nowhere to run to to escape them. I couldn't even be my own person.

Being imaginary sucked _ass_…

I slid down the door, my face still red, my stomach still queasy, and allowed the memories to wash over me. Unable to reject them, I just gave in to the images and sensations, allowing the moans to freely escape and my muscles to rhythmically tense. Until the relief came and I finally got control, I'd have to just lie there on my side on the hardwood floor, twitching and groaning while wanting to cut off my own hands so I didn't feel pressure to do touch myself.

As if Satan himself had been in charge of my morning, the memories took over an hour to be absorbed. I had been asleep for four days, almost, so it was normal for the time to lengthen as opposed to having only been asleep for one or two days, but an hour was still a long time to suffer. And as though the emotions and sensations and unwanted hard-on weren't enough, the headache just iced the cake. I ended up lying there helplessly for most of the morning, wishing I had a fucking genie or something so I could wish Atem's existence away.

Under other circumstances, I'd have probably just killed him (or asked Marik to do the dirty work for me) but Atem was an obnoxiously important thing to Ryou and this forced me to tolerate him. There had to be a way to separate them, so I spent the rest of what was left of the morning on my bedroom floor plotting various ways to get rid of that which made me so ill.

"_I figured that was the case that you'd skipped class. Why don't you just let me shank him?"_

"Because Ryou likes him too much," I grumbled and took a bite off some leftover steak from the fridge once picking off the basil leaves.

I was back in the kitchen again, still in Ryou's Choco-Cat pajama pants, but now I was on the phone with Marik. Marik always sympathized with my situation because he also hated the ex-Game King and we liked talking about the various ways we could go about killing him. Our favorite so far was slowly dropping him into a leaf-shredder.

I was still horny from my little 'daydreams' and could really have used the blonde Egyptian right about then to relieve some tension and maybe get the images from my head, but Ryou had banned me from seeing Marik anymore. It had something to do with the fetish my previous lover had with sharp objects and his need to use them on anyone he _really_ liked. And that all really sucked, because Marik's blowjobs were the best fucking thing ever – I'd probably take one over a bar of Hershey's.

"And I can't hurt him if Ryou likes him."

Marik huffed. _"That's an obnoxious little rule."_

"Yeah, it really is. But it can't be helped. I just have to wait out their little affair or pray to fucking Satan that Atem breaks it off."

"_I don't think he will,"_ commented Marik. I could tell he was holding a knife because he had a certain purr to his voice. He always got like that when we talked. I smirked a little with some gratification at having so easily aroused the blonde. _"Atem likes torturing you too much. He knows this messes with your head so I am sure he does more than he might normally do to others just to get you riled up. He seemed especially proud today in class about your not having been here and made some commentary."_

I snarled into the phone and took another rough tear from the steak. Kaiba would complain about my lack of napkins or utensils, but he wasn't here, so I just kept on tearing with Ryou's pathetically-blunt teeth. "I'll get back at him somehow… Someday, pharaoh..."

"_I still say you just let me kill him."_

"Maybe another time." I wiped my hands on a dish rag, supporting the phone with my shoulder as I leaned the side of my head into it, still growling between sentences. "I'd rather just have him castrated."

I felt Marik smirk devilishly into the phone. _"I could do that."_

"Now, now, Marik. Patience."

"_Don't fucking tease me, Bakura!"_

"How about you put the knife down and chill for a second?"

He growled but I heard something clang against a table. _"You're a prick."_

"Undenied."

"_I want you so hard right now."_

I snickered. "You know the rules, Marik."

"_At the risk of sounding like your freaking boy-toy—screw the rules. I said I want you now."_

I snickered. "Seto is _hardly_ a boy-toy; he won't let me touch him at all. And you know I made that promise to Ryou about us. Marik, I would like nothing more than to come over there and fuck you."

"_Pfft. Fuck me – like _that_ will ever happen."_

"The promise stands."

He hissed and I heard him throw something. Marik was always violent when he got horny and didn't have any way to release his tension. He must not have slept with anyone for several days_. "Screw the promise! He's messing around with the moron, anyways! It's not fair that he can do that and you can't have fun, too! I want you and I am coming over there to take what I want!"_

I tilted my head slightly, lifting it so I could take the phone as I allowed my thoughts to drift. "You're right."

"_What?"_

"He does date Atem knowing it tortures me, and he's banned me from seeing you because you always injure us."

"_So I'm coming over there!"_

"No. Wait." I sat on the counter. "How about I just ban him from seeing the pharaoh?"

"_Huh?"_

"He banned me from you, so shouldn't I have a token of my own? Someone I can tell him he can't date?"

I could tell by his silence that Marik was irritated when he realized I wasn't inviting him over.

"It's only fair," I smirked. "This is perfect. Thank you, Marik. You've been a great help." He was snarling and yelling when I hung up on him and slid off the counter to grab a sheet of paper. Ryou was about to get a letter and I was about to feel a whole lot better about my life.

No more Atem! If Ryou wanted to keep seeing him, I'd just threaten to go back to Marik.

Either way, I won.

My letter of notice having been jotted, I whistled and went back to my room to get dressed.

_-(Next Scene)-_

Just as I thought he might, Ryou agreed with me and informed Atem that they couldn't see one another anymore. Now I was free of the pharaoh and his accursed little fingers. He expressed his wrath by just shooting glares at me in class and cursing a lot, but his anger just made it all more satisfying. I did feel a little bad for Ryou, though. He genuinely liked Atem, but I couldn't take it anymore. If I couldn't date Marik, Ryou couldn't date Atem: this was our new rule, and though it basically banned me from ever touching Marik again (which made him pretty upset) I was all right with that loss so long as it meant Atem couldn't touch me.

Things were back to normal: Atem hated me, I hated him, and I couldn't touch a very tense and pissy Marik. Ryou went back to hanging out with Kaiba, who was (of course) there to pick up the pieces of my Light's broken little heart.

Things were going just perfectly until whatever God exists decided to screw with me some more with a new teacher.

Class started out normal enough. I was keeping myself preoccupied with teasing Kaiba by licking at his ear while he was being distracted by the dog's shrieking (Seto had insulted him a few hundred times too much this morning, apparently, and it was just enough to make Wheeler want to tear at his face).Yugi was busy trying to keep Joey from launching himself across the room and Atem was just chatting it up with his other cheerleaders.

To my side sat the Ishtars and they were arguing about…something (they fight a lot over nothing; Marik usually wins) while Duke just sat there and observed.

Yup. It was a pretty typical morning in our home-room.

We'd been informed that we had yet another new teacher, so I was preparing myself to run them off like I had all of the others (they all made it too easy, really; it hardly ever require more than me coming at them with an unnecessarily well-sharpened pencil). But today would be very different from other days.

It was about ten or so minutes before class was due to begin when the door opened. I didn't pay direct attention to the entering figure because I was still enjoying the taste of Seto's ear (it was shocking he managed to tolerate it for so long, but I suppose he'd rather glare at the dog than address my teasing), but I could tell it was a tall, tan person with dark hair. Nothing special here in Japan. I continued licking until I took a brief moment to lift my eyes to take in the new guy.

What…the fuck…?

He'd written his name on the chalkboard and was busy putting his books in order on his desk. Mahad is what was scrawled in white, and my jaw dropped. _Mahad_? This was fucking ridiculous! I glared hard at the figure to inspect him: he had the bronze skin, the blue-violet eyes, the tattoos, the sienna-brown hair…

What…the…fuck?

This was 'Mahad' from my dreams! This was someone I recognized! He was a magician that I'd killed repeatedly in my dreams (a total pussy, really) and the pharaoh's little man-servant/babysitter/best friend/lover.

WHAT THE FUCK?

He made eye contact with me, looking a little thrown off by my gawking, before he spoke in a voice that haunted me. "Hello," the twenty-something-year-old Egyptian greeted. Damn it… He really did look and sound like that guy… What the hell was going on? "My name is Mahad. I'll be your new substitute for the rest of this year." He smiled anxiously. "Maybe someone would like to tell me about themselves? We could go around the classroom to get to know one another better," he suggested. "Or perhaps you have questions for me?"

We were all looking at him now, and I couldn't help but take notice of the expression on Atem's face. He was gaping at the brunette and I knew quite well as to why. If my dreams were any hit (which they usually were; maybe I was psychic or something), he was probably infatuated. Mahad wasn't unattractive, this I had to admit, but this level of attraction went on a much deeper level. I'd never witnessed Atem give that face. He just stared at Mahad with his now massive eyes, shooting rainbows and sparkles at him that rivaled his brother.

It looked like the new guy was about to pick someone to start his little class discussion, so I decided to offer my services. He smiled and pointed at me. "You can go first."

"Allrighty then." I grinned mischievously and coughed into a fist. Seto watched me with tight blue eyes, knowing me too well to believe I was about to behave. "Welcome to the class of freaks! My name is Bakura," I introduced, "and I am an imaginary friend."

The class remained mostly quiet but Mahad laughed a little – a typical response people had when I told them this. "Okay, okay," he waved one of his slender hands, "No more joking with the new teacher, all right?"

I laughed and leaned back a little in my chair, waiting for Seto's line.

"He's not kidding," the CEO grunted beside me, looking especially uninterested in my insanity and how amused I was by the look on Mahad's face. "He really does think that."

"I _know_ that!" I cackled, rolling my head to give my roommate a wriggle of my eyebrows, only making Seto frown deeper. One day I'd figure out how to make him relax. I bet sex would help. Right now, however, I was focused on the task at hand: introducing the new guy to our class of outcasts. "Over there are the Mutou twins," I motioned towards where Yugi was waving in the over-the-top friendly way he always did whilst shooting rainbows and sparkles and ponies and kittens from his massive eyes. "Yes, Yugi," I snickered, "wave. That is the current Game King, and the bigger one beside him, gaping at you, is a narcissist. His name is Atem but we all like to call him _pharaoh_."

Atem just kept staring.

"The rest of the group there with the bigger one are morons and they're all failing this class.

"The beautiful, angry man sitting here beside me is the dragon-humping CEO of the company that runs the city, and he'll pretty much screw your existence over if you fail him in this class or, god forbid, upset him in any way, so I'd just suggest giving him an 'A' and not looking directly into his _obscenely_ blue eyes.

"Welcome to first period," I finished.

"Thank you…Bakura," Mahad murmured after a minute or two. "Uh….well…it's nice to learn about all of you, I suppose."

"Just to be sure," I spoke again, "you weren't put up to this by anyone, were you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're in my dreams a lot," I growled. Seto turned his blue eyes back towards me, suddenly interested in what I was saying. He always bothered me with questions about my dreams, questions I hardly ever answered, so he was always eager to learn about them when given the chance. "Mokuba didn't hire you or something, did he?" I heard a low growl from where the brunette sat, but I just kept my eyes level with Mahad's, trying to look painfully seriously. "The Kaibas?"

"Uh…no?"

"Just making sure. Guess God decided that today was another day He wanted to screw my brain over a little more." I waved a hand. "Okay, continue."

"All…right… Uh… As I said before," Mahad was trying (and failing miserably) at looking like I hadn't made him nervous, "my name is Mahad. Nice to meet you."

God, he was as much of a pitiful creature as the guy in my dreams. He was lucky I wasn't dreaming and that this was in fact reality because otherwise I'd have totally ripped off one of his limbs by now. The Mahad I was familiar with was a pussy and I couldn't tolerate him. This being said, it was my duty to make this wannabe's life as miserable as humanly possible.

I smirked a little to myself. Someone up there might have it out for me (they might even want me to go completely insane), but I was going to make this little nightmare into something amusing. Mahad was my new plaything.

As I pondered on ways to make his life difficult, Atem just kept on staring and Mahad got class started.

I wouldn't have to worry about the pharaoh chasing after Ryou anymore, at least.

* * *

End of chapter 6!

My roommate is all excited to have Mahad around now. I'm looking forward to seeing what Atem is going to do about 'the new guy'.

At least I have most of he main characters introduced. Now it's time for the pairings to begin!

The next chapter is almost entirely focused of Bakura and Kaiba, and it is about two-thirds written (it's at 8 pages right now)! It shall be up very soon! And then I get to have fun after that…FUFUFU…

Okay, got chores to do and then back to chapter 7!


	8. Advantage

And here is where the fun begins! The next couple of chapters entertain me quite a lot.

In chapter 7, Bakura comes home after a long day at school and is pissed that Kaiba skipped out.

Warning: a little yaoi ahead. I am not good at doing lemons, so I'll plan to skip anything significant, but I might add a separate story later that's all lemon-y if Bakura so demands.

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

* * *

**Chapter 7****: Advantage**

(Yami Bakura's POV)

Every part of me was sore. I groaned a little as I entered the house, closing the door behind me gentler than usual. My arms, legs, torso, back—they were all stiff.

Today had been the school's workout day. I didn't care to recall what the event's actual name was, but I knew that I hated it. It was everything from track, to swimming, biking, sports, and general physical exams. Eight hours of pure hell for my lanky British body to endure. And it hadn't escaped my notice that Kaiba was missing. He missed that day every year, always with some business excuse.

_Pfft. _Business my ass.

One would think someone as fit as Seto Kaiba wouldn't have any complaints about attending a day like that, or that he even might savor the chance to easily beat Yugi or Atem in physical endurance tests. (The little midget had nearly passed out after running a mile, and the pharaoh had flat out refused to take part in the activities. I really wasn't sure how the hell he managed to pass Physical Education every year.) Apparently, this wasn't the case, because every year it was the same damn thing: Seto Kaiba was just too _busy_ to participate in physical activities. Even Mokuba had attended!

I waddled up to my room and changed out of my disgusting clothes to grab a shower. Hot water was never my choice, but I made the bathroom steam and slipped inside. The heat helped to relax my tense muscles and I just sat at the bottom of the tiled shower for a good hour, letting the heat soak in before climbing out to throw on some jeans.

Stupid Seto, skipping out on school like he was the damn ruler of the world. What had the prick been up to all day?

Still sore and stiff, I wandered into the hallway and made my way towards the kitchen to grab a sandwich before heading towards Kaiba's office. Mokuba was already there, sitting against the wall and drawing up something I didn't really understand. He looked up as I approached and smiled. I wasn't sure how he looked so fresh after today, but he didn't seem exhausted at all. Stupid Kaibas…

"Hey, Kura," he welcomed. "You lose your shirt?"

I scratched at my side a little. "_Meh_…" I hadn't even bothered to put an actual shirt on. There I was, standing in the hallway of my almost-home in nothing more than washed out skinny jeans that had huge holes on the knees. My white hair was pulled back into a messy, still slightly damp, ponytail and I knew I had to look pretty beat because I felt like shit. "I took a shower," I mumbled.

"You really need a shirt or something," he commented, smiling awkwardly up at me. Mokuba pointed towards a closet with his mechanical pencil. "There's some old clothes in there."

"Why do you care?"

"Just grab one."

I rolled my eyes and mumbled rebelliously before walking towards the closet and opening the large door. Inside were piles of old shirts and jackets hung neatly on wooden hangers. I could tell this was all Seto's old stuff. It smelled like him and definitely looked like the sort of shit he'd wear, but it was smaller. I wasn't sure why they'd keep this sort of stuff. Seto didn't strike me as someone who kept clothes as hand-me-downs, but it was possible Mokuba had saved it.

I sighed and leaned in to dig through the closet, somewhat curious as to what I could find, and managed to withdraw a jacket from the very back. It was black, and reminded me of Seto's old purple coat but it lacked the metal studs and the sleeves were short. It still had the logo, though. I tossed the hanger back into the closet and shut the door, pulling my arms through the jacket and turning towards a giggling Mokuba.

"So," I grinned toothily, "do I look like a total douche?" Actually, it wasn't so bad. It fit me and didn't look too long.

He seemed satisfied I was wearing something more than jeans, so Mokuba just nodded and returned his dark eyes to his doodle. "Yup!"

I inspected the jacket a little more before stepping beside the smaller Kaiba and staring at the office door. "So what's the prick doing?"

"He's relaxing."

"_Relaxing_?" Seto didn't relax. That was unheard of.

"Yeah. I gave him a couple glasses of wine to chill him down a little. He's had a hard day."

I arched a white eyebrow, still staring at the door. What an interesting tidbit. Kaiba was drinking. "He's just a pussy."

"Some guy tried to take over the company," Mokuba sighed before smiling up at me.

I turned my eyes towards him. "So you liquored him up?" He nodded. "Good boy."

"He's not drunk or anything. Just…_tipsy_. And tired."

"I'm tired too."

"We all had a long day, I think."

"So why are you sitting here?"

"I was waiting for you to come home." He stood, tucking the tablet under his arm and sliding his mechanical pencil behind a small ear.

"Hm? Why? Need help with homework again?"

He giggled and shook his head. "Naa. I just thought you'd wanna know about brother's condition."

My eyebrows lifted a little. What was he talking about, _condition_?

"He's had enough wine to relax," Mokuba hinted while smiling in that impish way he did when plotting something mischievous and walking backwards down the hallway. "He's really chill right now. He probably shouldn't be around anyone untrustworthy, though."

I eyed him. "Why is that?"

"Because he's susceptible to _suggestion_ when he's relaxed."

My eyes tightened before I chuckled. "Why, you little bastard…"

He only chuckled back before he turn and shot down the hall. "Be gentle!"

I turned my red-brown eyes towards the door and gave a low snort. So Kaiba was easily manipulated when he'd had a few glasses of wine, eh? Just enough not to be drunk but still be considerably more relaxed than usual.

The rug-rat was determined to set up a scenario for me to take advantage of, but I never thought he'd go this far. Even so, I wasn't about to walk away from such a good opportunity, and so I opened the door and stepped inside.

Seto was leaning back in his plush office chair and from where I was standing I could see his eyes were closed.

The inside of his office was clean and well-decorated, though he did have an annoyingly childish model of a Blue Eyes mounted on the CEO's desk. It was a lamp, and its open mouth blew light down on his prim-and-proper wooden desk. He had a few piles of neatly stacked paperwork placed in specific areas. Kaiba had areas he put paper that was related to certain things, and I could tell he'd been firing people that day. Judging from the paper that was placed horizontally at the side of his left arm, he'd also been taking over a company or two.

"Get out," he breathed, not moving from his spot.

I closed the door behind me and moved towards him, ignoring his whining. He didn't say anything as I sat on his desk and moved his papers aside. Seto always made a fuss when his neat papers were messed with, but this time all he did was open one of his eyes and glower up at me from his position. "Hello, honey," I smirked. "I'm home."

Seto growled weakly but didn't especially do much else to rebel against my sarcasm like he normally did. It was a little disappointing, actually. He really _was_ tipsy. I turned my brown eyes towards the empty wine glass and then looked back at him. "Go away," he murmured. It lacked that certain pungency that might normally shoo me away when I knew he was really serious. So rather than comply, I just leaned across him, picked up his damn dragon lamp, opened a large drawer, and tossed it inside. He watched me do this with his single opened eye, not even as much as twitching to stop me.

"Well, I feel better."

"_Ass_."

"Oh, relax." I pat him on the head and he growled again. "The baby tells me you had a shitty day. Care to talk about it?"

"Not especially." His blue eyes examined me, running over my figure before he met my gaze again. "Where's your fucking shirt? And where the hell did you find my old jacket?"

"I'm not wearing any underwear, either," I snickered. "As for the jacket, it was a little present from Mokuba." Seto just frowned at me, so I returned the conversation to him. "You've had a little wine, I see."

"Just two or three glasses," he admitted, closing his eye again. I frowned a little; even tipsy Kaiba was difficult to work with. "Now then, why don't you get out of my office and let me rest? I shouldn't have to remind you that you're rather dependant on me at this point." I frowned a bit stiffer. That wasn't fair! "Leave daddy alone for a while."

"Oh _boo-hoo_," I grumbled. Both of his eyes opened. Kaiba's irritation was palatable behind his woozy glare, but I didn't let that stop me from teasing him. "The businessman had to fight off enemies with stocks and graph-bars," I growled. "I had to run ten _fucking_ miles today, so stop whining and suck it up." Before Seto could hiss the response I could see beginning to swell in his chest, I smirked and leaned in close to his face, making him bend back in his chair. "I think that we could _both_ use some relaxation," I purred. "Some stress-relief is always a good idea, especially for tight-asses like you."

Seto followed me with his glazed blue eyes while I ran my nose along his jaw-line. "What are you doing?" Under normal circumstances this would have been followed by him shoving me away, but the wine seemed to tranquilize him, and Seto remained still as I shifted on his desk to inch closer.

He was a nervous creature when it came to physical contact and I was fairly sure that any wrong movement or word would permanently put him off, so I was being especially tentative and kept aware of his responses, but gauging Seto had always been difficult. I hoped the wine would weaken his defenses a little and give me the opening I'd needed.

"I'm just trying to help you relax a little more," I breathed into his ear. "That's all…"

He might have considered getting up had I not planted my ass in his expensive lap. It wasn't too uncomfortable, straddling him in this leather chair of his. I was preoccupied with keeping him pinned so I wasn't sure if he was looking for a route of escape, but it didn't feel like he was. Seto just let me continue to breathe against him, only occasionally shifting under me to get comfortable. He might even have been thinking about shoving me off when he put his hands on my bony hips, but if that had been the case he must have changed his mind because his hands just rested there.

Wow. That wine was like fucking black magic.

He made no decipherable sounds as I moved against him in efforts to get a response, but the fact that he hadn't threatened to stab me in the temple with one of his marble pens was a promising sign that he was enjoying himself.

This was exactly the chance I'd needed.

I'd break him.

Seto Kaiba had to have a sex drive and I was determined to find it.

Of course there was the question of the morality if this situation. Kaiba had been drinking and was at least a little impaired in judgment. The worst he could do would be to throw me out of the mansion, but Mokuba would get Ryou and I back inside by the following morning.

As for my Light, he'd be _pissed_. Sparkly fuchsia gel-pen was in my future for sure if I went through with this.

Was any of the drama worth it?

I hovered my face just about the CEO's and listened to the speed of his heart-beat pick up. Seto was holding a breath from how close our faces were. He looked sort of horrified, but also anxious and eager and curious.

Wine or no wine, if he'd wanted me to back off he'd have pushed me to the floor a while ago. That's what I decided, and that's what drove me to make my first move.

His Seto-Blue eyes quivered as I moved in. He allowed me to softly brush our lips and released the breath he'd been holding in; it came out as a muffled '_what_'. I grinned a little before finally pressing our lips together and did this in the least-threatening way possible. Any wrong move and he'd toss me off his lap screaming like a drunken banshee.

But he didn't toss me off. He didn't complain. He didn't even _move_ as I'd planted his first kiss – which turned into a second and then a third. I leaned closer and grinned when one of his hands slid higher on my waist. I hadn't been expecting that and his touch made me breathe a soft moan, which immediately caused every muscle in his long body to tense. He only relaxed when we parted faces far enough to make eye-contact.

It took him a few seconds to find his voice. I was already deciding on what angle to attack his mouth from next when he finally spoke. "Taking advantage of me, I see," he murmured. "Bastard…"

"Shut the hell up, Seto." I kissed him again, this time a little more demanding than before.

The alcohol must have already begun to fade from his system because he actually snickered pulled me towards him and invited his tongue into my mouth. _Ho-ho-ho_! Someone was getting brave! Seto was the sort of person that when faced with something he didn't understand was scared easily, but once he was more educated and comfortable, he was right back to his '_I know everything_' self.

I wondered whether he preferred to be on top or on bottom, but his confidence would need to grow a little more before I could test that. But being _gentle_ wasn't especially my forte and I looked forward to getting to push him around a little. Until then, I tested his confidence levels by occasionally withdrawing to make him come towards me or pull me towards him before we could proceed as before. Every time I did this I felt him grow impatient, which was exactly what I wanted. An impatient Seto, I thought, was a horny Seto.

"You're such a fucking tease," he rasped when I pulled back and let my white hair down. He was definitely getting excited. I watched him dissect my decisively seductive movements with his lusty blue eyes.

"Glad to see that you're relaxing." I leaned in his lap until my back was resting on the desk.

Score! He was such a perfect dog, leaning forward to pin me against the desk as I hoped he might. I was still in his lap and now I was grinning sand wriggling a little to tease him further. It wouldn't take much more before he'd snap.

What a perfect end to a shitty day.

I guess being patient really did pay off. Though_, _'patient' didn't quite cover the sexual torture it had been living with Seto Kaiba for a month without molesting him – at least not seriously. I'd always been well-aware of how attractive he was, but was his personality that did it for me. Seto wasn't dumb or annoying like most people, nor was he immature or so predictable that it made observing or being around him boring. He was just as eccentric and bitchy as I was. I'd waited for the last several weeks until the moment was perfect to act, and (thanks to Mokuba obsession with getting Seto and me together) I'd finally gotten to act.

_Come on, Seto…Take my bait…_

I wriggled a little and made encouraging sounds. He was leaning over me, still deciding what to do about it. It looked like I might have to play teacher for a while, but that was fine with me. I enjoyed being in charge. I'd just figured he'd prefer to drive.

Either way, there was no way in hell he'd go another night a virgin.

_- (Next Scene) - _

It looked like I was still me the following morning, which was probably for the best. I was pretty sure that if it had been Ryou to wake up that Seto might have had a complete breakdown.

I figured that he'd want to 'talk' to me before we went to class to face the school-day. But Seto was the sort that might avoid me completely just because he was so freaking unsure of himself when it came to this sort of shit, and when he was unsure of something, he usually reacted by lashing out or just running away.

I wasn't the sort to really care so much about what he decided (I was confident in my ability to handle either scenario), so when I'd woken up, I'd just rolled out of bed (somehow not waking Seto up in the process) and got ready for class like I always did.

When he finally graced us with his sore presence, I was sitting at the kitchen table, gnawing on some Cocoa Puffs, and Mokuba was working on the coffee. (God bless that little rat-haired child. Ryou was good at making coffee but I always burned it, so I depended on Mokuba's parenting skills for my caffeine fixes.)

Seto was looking especially groggy that morning but I made it a point not to directly observe him as he moved into the kitchen to get his traditional toasted plain whole-wheat bagel with non-fat cream-cheese and black coffee with a single packet of Splenda (with_ fiber_!). I stared at the back of my nauseatingly brightly-colored cereal box, not really reading it but sort of being irritated by how damn _happy_ the cartoon bird was at this time of day. Cocoa Puffs was my cereal of choice because I would probably murder someone if I was promised chocolate in return, and I found this particular cereal was especially good at making my milk brown.

Why the hell was this freaking bird so happy?

I glowered a little at the picture, hoping that my eyes might suddenly evolve to shoot laser vision at the damn thing, while half-ignoring the messy-haired Seto as he sat down to frown at me from across the table. I could tell he was hoping to get my attention, so I just kept right on staring right at the damn box and tried solving the stupid little puzzles made for five-year-olds.

The CEO was studying me intensely. It was perhaps the most uncertain as I'd ever seen him. It was a little amusing, actually, that I had this magical power that I'd never known of before to make him like this.

He reached out and shifted my box from my field of vision, forcing me to make eye contact. I allowed it and stared blandly at the billionaire with my tired, semi-irritable eyes, still rather bleary from having slept virtually not at all the previous night – not that I was complaining. I hadn't gotten such sexual relief in months, especially since Marik and I had been banned from seeing one another. I'd screwed Seto pretty damn well, and he had to be sore because even I was tired after last night (though I'd probably fuck him again before class if he'd let me).

"Enjoying your cereal?" he asked in his most evenly sarcastic tone. It didn't do shit to hide his anxiety.

I could tell this was going to be one of those awkward conversations that I typically preferred to cut off one of my own fingers rather than endure. "Yup." I took another bite and grabbed my box to slide it back.

He frowned and slid my box away again. Our eyes met for the second time and I could see how his blue orbs were heavy enough to fall right out of their bloody sockets.

_Blech_… I hated this sort of shit.

I hated that he wanted me to talk about it. I hated that I should have to tell him anything at all. He was smart; he couldn't figure shit out himself?

It figured the _one_ thing that Seto Kaiba wasn't sure about would have something to do with me and that I'd be in charge of his education to make him feel less insecure.

I just waited for him to say something, because Seto hated long pauses when he wanted to have a conversation. It was my way of forcing him to begin and it made me feel a little more in control of my life. In the meantime, I could sense Mokuba slowly moving out of the room to give us our 'alone time'. Damn brat was working against me this morning!

He continued to study me for any sign of how I was feeling about the event, but he got nothing. I know this because I offered him nothing. I just stared at him blandly and quietly ate my cereal. Seto looked away and I smirked a little at his irritation for the lack of information he was seeking. He tapped the table with his fingernails, deciding his next move. My cereal was already finished before he seemed to find his voice again.

"About last night…" Finally! He was being direct. I might have had to get up and put my bowl in the sink if he'd started talking about the weather or something. I leaned back in my seat and sighed to try and urge him forward. "You destroyed my good sheets." He tried giving me his best angry-Seto face, but I remained relaxed. He was beating around the bush, but at least we were closer to the actual reason he'd sat down. "I expect you to pay for those."

I shrugged and stretched my arms over my head, making tired sounds as my body began to wake up. "You're lucky I was so gentle," I snickered. "Otherwise, you'd have needed new pillows, too." That made him turn bright red and I smiled, which only made him turn redder. I'd never seen him that red before and it made me twist a little with satisfaction.

"You're such a whore," he growled. There was actually a little bit of honest exasperation in there, but it wasn't nearly enough to shut me up.

"Relax," I yawned. "I did you a favor. I'd never seen anyone with such sexual tension." He just glared at me, too angry or too embarrassed to respond. "A few more times like that and you might actually _relax_ for once in your life."

I was pretty sure half of what made Seto so freaking tense all the time was a lack of sex. He was a seventeen (almost eighteen)-year-old boy and he'd never as much as kissed a person before last night. It was no wonder he always had such a huge stick up his ass! I couldn't go a few weeks without sex without being irritable (well, more so than usual).

"What makes you think I'll let you get anywhere near me again?" he spat. "I was drunk. You took advantage of me. I should throw your pasty ass onto the street!"

My eyelids drooped and my voice flattened. "I didn't do anything that you didn't want me to do, Seto."

"_Want_?" He stood and threw a finger at me in his typical, over-dramatic fashion that only Atem rivaled. "Who said I wanted _anything_ from you?"

"Stop being so dramatic and sit down," I ordered, still staring flatly at him, "before I take you hard here on the kitchen floor." He immediately sat down and went quiet, growling a few retorts under his breath. "Good boy." I shifted to lean forward so I was close to him but he didn't make an effort to lean back. Instead he just stared at me with those uncertain Seto-Blue eyes of his. He was overflowing with anxiety and anger and lust and other emotions that I couldn't place, but I knew he was aware of his attraction towards me and that it made him immensely uncomfortable. "You and I _both_ know you weren't anywhere _near_ being drunk last night," I spoke somewhat quietly. "And even if you _were_ a little tipsy in the beginning, you sure as hell weren't when you took your pants off, so don't offend me by hiding behind alcohol.

"Now then, how about we get right to the part that this little conversation is actually about, hmm?" His eyes tensed a little but he didn't ask what I was talking about so I just skipped his side of the conversation. "You're uncertain of yourself," I charged. He opened his mouth to rebuttal but I held up a finger to hush him. "You're questioning your sexuality, and you want to know what last night meant to me, you, and to 'the both of us'." The brunette remained quiet. "I really hate that I should have to talk to you about this, you know. You're a freaking _genius_. Shouldn't you be able to figure this shit out for yourself?"

He looked away, still too nervous to say anything.

It was pissing me off, actually, how elusive and childish he was being about the whole thing. I hit the table with a flat hand to get his attention back towards me, my teeth tight and bared to express my growing irritation. "_Listen_," I grunted, "I'm no good at this sort of shit. I'm not gentle and not especially affectionate. I'm not someone I'd consider nice or very capable of a relationship. But," I sat back, relaxing now that my anger had passed, "I _happen_ to like you, Seto, so make of what night what you will. I'm perfectly capable of meeting your needs, whatever they might be. If you'd prefer that I keep my hands to myself, well, I can try," I snickered and he turned red again. "But if you'd rather I didn't…well, that's a good deal easier on my part." I scratched a little at my neck as he remained quiet, growling some before standing.

"Well, I'm done. Come talk to me when your balls descend." I picked up my cereal bowel and out it in the sink, preparing to walk out to head to the curb when he stood.

"Wait."

I stopped in the doorway and angled myself to look back towards the nervous CEO. "Yes?"

He stepped towards me and stared down from his strangely immense height for a few long seconds before finally speaking. "Listen, I don't want to get the wrong idea about your actions," he explained as I kept my eyes fixed on him and studied his eye color more. "So how about being a bit more specific as to why you did what you did?"

"Why I screwed you?" He only nodded a little. "I told you already: I like you."

"That doesn't really explain anything any better."

"Ugh… God, you're such a _girl_…" I rolled my eyes and dropped my bag on the floor before standing on my toes to kiss him. He shifted a little towards me, leaning down some to make it easier. I let it break after a few seconds, smirking some. He still tasted good. "We're going to be late for first period."

"Screw first period."

"_Ooh_," I chuckled, admiring how quickly his expression shifted from uncertainty to determination. "Goodness! _That_ sounds promising."

_- (Next Scene) - _

We didn't make it to first period.

By the time we got to school, it was about fourth period, just before lunch, so we ended up making out in his car until the bell rang. There probably wasn't a point in making him go to school other than to get out of the house, but I made him go anyways. It was a good thing, too, because as we walked inside, ignoring the questioning glances of other students that knew they hadn't seen us in the earlier classes, I remembered I had an Economics exam in sixth period.

Seto kept pretty close. He always followed me around, but this sort of following was different. It was clingy, but in Seto-talk it was more about territory. He was keeping an eye on me, not just making sure nobody came near Ryou anymore, but now also to be sure no one else moved in on _me_. It was his way of telling everyone that I belonged to him.

This would be fun.

We sat down at our usual place. Duke and the Ishtars were already waiting for us. Malik had began eating before we arrived and it looked like he'd consumed about three bowls of fried rice and five corn dogs at this point. He was working on his sixth and Marik just kept his eyes on Duke so he didn't hurl at the sight.

"I see you _finally_ decided to show up," Marik growled at me as I sat down. Seto nestled close to me, keeping our legs touching; how adorably un-Seto-like of him. Marik glanced between us, quickly taking notice of the pink stain on Seto's otherwise stiff face. He frowned and snapped his vision towards me. "What the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?" I grinned. "We just got in late, is all. Seto had a meeting and I tagged along."

"Liar," he snorted.

Malik just started on his seventh corn dog.

"Anything interesting happen while I was out?" I was hoping Seto would go get his lunch so I could eat off his plate, but it didn't look like he'd be doing hat today. Damn it! I was hungry, too! And now I had to sit here and watch Malik stuff his fat-ass face? Not fair. I frowned a little and looked at Seto as though maybe he'd pick this little bit up, but he just kept staring at Malik in a disgusted sort of way as he watched the Egyptian devour his eighth corn dog.

"Atem finally figured out that we've been gradually filing the legs of his chair to make it crooked and shorter," Marik replied, smirking a little.

"Aw! I missed that? Damn it!" I laughed.

Atem poked his head up at the other table and shot us glares.

"I'd hoped to be here for that, too," I snickered.

"I hope that 'meeting' was worth it," Marik commented, now studying Seto, who turned a slightly deeper shade of red.

"It was," I smirked. "It was well-worth it, wasn't it Seto?"

"Whatever," he grunted, still watching Malik eat.

"You dogs are spreading rumors about me again," Atem proclaimed as he came strutting up to our table, "aren't you?"

I smirked at him. "Of course. It wouldn't be a good day without making you look like an ass at least once."

"Scoundrel!"

"Pharaoh!"

"Prick!"

"_Ass_!"

Yugi came up from behind him, smiling gently. He was here to prevent any fights, like always. The little one was predictable, but I still liked him better than the pharaoh. "Hey, guys," Yugi beamed. "How's everything over here at the Kaiba Table?"

"_Peachy_," Marik snarled toothily, making Yugi take a short step back.

Atem puffed up and got between them. The two beautiful people exchanged growls.

"Now, now," Yugi hushed nervously before smiling towards me. "Have a good morning?"

"Very," I grinned.

Seto's face turned redder.

Yugi smiled and Marik groaned, unable to stomach the boy's happiness. "That's good! So…why were you late?"

"They had a _meeting_," Marik rolled his eyes, not trying to ignore Atem, who just kept straight on glowering at him. Now he was shivering. Maybe he'd explode. I wondered what 'exploded Atem' might look like while Yugi blinked curiously at the shade of Red on Kaiba's face.

"A meeting…?" The Game King looked at Seto, who was still watching Malik and blatantly refusing to look anywhere else. To amuse myself, I slipped a hand down and ran it over Seto's knee to make him sit upright and glare at me. I just kept on grinning, but Yugi's plum-purple eyes widened a little.

_Ding! Ding! Ding!_

Seto growled a few curses at me but I just chuckled, keeping my eyes on little Yugi, who was now gawking a little as he mewled over his rainbowy thoughts. His massive eyes sparkled a little and I raised an eyebrow. Yugi smiled widely and I could tell he was getting excited about our secret news.

He giggled and bounced on his heels a little, causing Atem to turn and look towards him. "What are _you_ getting so worked up about?" his brother asked.

Yugi kept beaming sparkles and ponies at me. I leaned back a little, somewhat intimidated by the sheer glee that was being shot from his eyes.

Seto finally noticed this and snarled, leaning back in the same way I had. "_What_?" he spat.

Yugi just giggled.

Malik ate his eleventh corn dog. Where the hell was he getting those things?

Just when I was sure Yugi would implode from keeping this information to himself, Atem and Marik randomly began to fight. We all turned our attention towards the two drama-queens as Atem tried to strangle Marik and Marik responded by pulling out a pocket knife, causing Malik (whom still had half of a corndog sticking from his mouth) to intervene and grab the knife from his twin. Marik shrilled and Yugi proceeded to try to pry his own twin off the blonde.

Seto and I watched all of this without moving from our seats, just basking in the moment.

He leaned his leg closer to mine and I smirked.

I just wanted my damn lunch.

We made it back to class without our little secret having been blown (though Marik and Atem just about killed one another a few times). Seto sat beside me, keeping strangely close, and this didn't seem to make it past anyone's notice; even Tea was looking at us. Everyone knew something was up, and I wasn't sure what Seto planned on doing when they figured it out. After all, we hadn't discussed if we'd wanted what occurred to be public, so I just decided to let fate play out and ignored them.

I just had to wait. It wouldn't be long before the ice was broken, not with Seto being so clingy and being so freaking red.

"Now, now," Mahad called over the rowdiness of the classroom in attempt to quell our noise. "Pipe down, everyone. Take a seat, please. Class is about to start."

I slid into my chair, snickering at Atem as the multi-color-haired pharaoh slid into his new desk (his filed-down one having been removed by the dutiful Mahad during lunch) and shot purple daggers at me while doing so.

Seto sat next to me, staying unusually quiet, and pulled out his phone to answer some texts. He was trying to keep himself preoccupied and not thinking about this morning or last night, but I smiled to myself for successfully making the CEO eager to get home so we could fool around again. That was what I assumed he was thinking about, at least, if the red stain on his face was any hint.

Yugi sat between his twin and the dog. I could feel his abnormally-large eyes boring into us. The shrimp was an observant little creature (how could he _not_ be with those eyes?) and had been pretty quick to catch on to watch was going on with Seto and I. The Game King had been my little cheerleader for months now, and I was sure he was excited that Seto and I had finally screwed like bunnies, though my roommate and I weren't officially 'seeing' one another just yet. Seto and I hadn't gotten around to _that_ talk. Whether or not he wanted to date me, exclusively or otherwise, wasn't clear yet, and I was patiently waiting for the rich orphan to make up his mind about the situation.

Until then, I assumed I had to right to just whore him up, which I planned to do – a _lot_.

"Kaiba's actin' sorta weird," Joey blatantly commented behind us, "isn't 'e? What's up?"

Yugi waved a tiny hand, laughing anxiously, and Seto just leaned forward some in his seat. "I'm sure he's just got a lot on his mind," the tiny classmate smiled. "Kaiba's a busy person, you know!"

"I dunno…"

I glanced over my shoulder, leaning back in my seat to scoff at the blonde. "Good morning, dog."

"Good mornin', dick," Joey grinned derisively. "Care to explain what's goin' on with the _bigger_ dick?"

"How the hell should I know? I'm not his babysitter."

Yugi pressed his mouth into a line.

Joey turned his hazel eyes towards his little friend. "You look like you know somethin', Yug," the dog murmured. He squeezed his eyes and leaned in to inspect his best friend's now nervous expression.

Yugi shook his head and laughed again. "Who? Me? _Naaaah_!"

"Com'on, Yug! What's goin' on with Kaiba?"

"I don't know," Yugi laughed again. "Honest!" He shrank in his seat as Atem turned on him to glare with Joey. Between the two of them, he was doomed. Yugi was a pathetic little creature and it wouldn't take much more to make him break.

I watched with unconcerned eyes, just waiting for the pipsqueak to snap under the pressure.

Seto, on the other hand, wasn't so care-free. I could see his eyes widen some as he finally realized that Yugi had figured it out. He knew what was coming too.

I smirked.

This would be entertaining.

"Com'on, Yug!" Joey demanded. "Out with it!"

Yugi squealed and sank deeper in his seat as Atem leaned over to snarl at him. "Do you know something?" the larger twin boomed.

"No! I don't! _Honest_, guys!"

"He's lyin'," Joey mumbled. "Com'on, Yug! I'm your _best friend_!"

"It's…really none of my business to say," Yugi pouted feebly.

I snickered and Seto growled, still not looking up from his desk.

"_Tell_ us!" Atem grabbed Yugi's collar, making his brother cry out in surprise.

During all of this, Mahad was just watching, his chin in his hand, his violet eyes flat. He knew he couldn't do anything but wait it out. Any argument that involved Atem was pretty useless to try and stop, unless Yugi was there to stop it, and since Yugi was the prey in this case, there was practically nothing anyone could do.

"_Nnngh_!" Yugi whined loudly as he was pressured.

In the background I could sense Marik watching the event unfold, eagerly awaiting for Yugi to break. He hated Seto for taking me away from him (not that we could really have dated before, and not that Set and I had been involved at all until now) and was probably eager for the news to be announced to the whole world that Seto Kaiba was gay—not only gay, but gay with an imaginary friend/insane person.

Malik remained quiet. He was probably just happy that he was full from lunch.

"YUGI!" both Atem and Joey yelled together.

"_Kaiba slept with Bakura_!" Yugi screamed, his face shooting red. He quickly covered his mouth, his purple eyes widening at having heard himself announce this to the class.

The classroom fell silent.

Nobody moved.

Nobody said anything.

Just…_silence_.

Seto's face was in his hands in attempt to hide his embarrassment.

Atem and the dog were gawking at the both of us. Joey just looked shocked and was a nice shade of white that nearly matched my natural skin tone, and the pharaoh looked like he couldn't decide to be angry, horrified, or disgusted. The rest of the Happy Squad was also staring with their jaws dropped. In the background, Marik was grinning devilishly and Duke was trying to keep Malik from eating an eraser that looked like a rice-ball.

At the front of the class sat our bewildered teacher. Mahad's eyes were almost as massive as Yugi's, and his mouth was squeezed into a squiggly line.

Surely none of this surprised anyone? I mean, it was so painfully obvious to me that Seto was gay, or at least bi, and we'd been living together for a good couple of months now. Did everyone doubt my seducing technique? Should I take their surprise offensively?

"…_What_?" Joey finally spat.

Atem seemed to decide that he was pissed. He snarled and stood, stomping over to glare at me. His lips were pulled back to show his clenched, crazy-white teeth, and his face was so contorted and tight that it looked like he could get wrinkles from holding the expression for more than a few seconds.

I blinked up at him, looking especially bored, keeping my expression blank. "Yes?"

"You…you…!" His body shivered. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. "You did _what_?"

"I. Fucked. Seto."

Atem snarled and threw his eyes towards the brunette. Seto was sprawled out on his desk, groaning pathetically. I didn't see what the big deal was, but it seemed he was more embarrassed about the situation than the actual news. Still, it was hard to tell what had him so upset. "You slept with the _albino_?" Atem cried.

Seto sat upright and shot the pharaoh a threatening look, suddenly regaining some of his normal _don't-give-me-shit_ attitude. "It's none of your business what I do." I really could swear the CEO was bipolar.

Atem released a few select, angry noises, stomping a leather boot to exert frustration. "But how could you do that? He's…! He's…!"

"Sexy?" I finished.

Atem hissed at me. "I'm going to kill you!"

"What are you so angry about, anyways?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Did you really sleep with Kaiba?" Tea asked quietly from behind the overdramatic model.

"Damn right I did," I snickered.

Seto shot me a look but I ignored it.

Tea blushed. "Oh my…"

"Wait, wait, _wait_!" Marik stood and walked towards the front, stopping beside the still angry Atem to glare at me. "You mean to tell me that this _just_ happened?"

"Well, Seto is a sensitive creature," I smirked. Seto groaned and face-planted his desk. "It took a while to butter him up and such, but I managed to break him."

Marik frowned. "I figured you'd been sleeping together for weeks now," he commented. "You've been living with him for a while."

"He's hard to break. What can I say?"

"This is an _outrage_!" cried Atem.

Marik rolled his eyes and put one of his hands to the model's face, shoving Atem out of the way and making him snarl again before Joey grabbed his belt and jerked Atem back into his chair. Finally – the dog came in handy.

"What's _he_ so upset about?" Marik questioned me, his lilac eyes flat.

"I think he wanted to screw him first," I guessed.

"Makes sense. Still, I'm honestly disappointed it took you so long. I just assumed…"

"Not everyone's a whore like you, Marik," I snickered.

He frowned and scoffed before folding his tan arms and walking back to his seat where Malik was busy eating that eraser.

Mahad just sat there red in the face, not so sure what he was going to do next. What could he do, after that scene just unfolded?

Me, I was feeling just fine. Seto Kaiba was out of the closet just like me, and now everyone knew that he was mine, which is just the way I liked it. My brunette lover, however, wasn't so enthusiastic about having been outed so publically, and his beautiful face was still pressed to his desk.

"Oh, relax, Seto." I sat back in my seat, getting comfortable as we waited to see what Mahad would do with the rest of the now fucked-up period.

The CEO raised his head to snarl at me, his face bright red. "You son of a bitch," he hissed lowly. "I can't believe you just did that…"

"Did _what_? It was the midget that said it, not me. I was just being honest. You're not ashamed of me, are you?" I fake-pouted, making him snarl again at which I just laughed.

"Is it your personal goal to ruin my life or something?"

"Stop being so dramatic. You're starting to sound like the pharaoh."

Seto snorted before sitting upright and crossing his arms, glaring towards a now very nervous Mahad. "Whatever. –You."

"Me?" Mahad sank a little in his seat at the teenager's hard tone. The poor magician looked like he'd wet himself. I couldn't blame him, really – Seto was good at that.

"Get on with class."

"Uhh..y…you're sure…?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay!" the Egyptian squealed, grabbing his textbook.

The rest of the day was spent with that test I'd totally forgotten about (Ryou was going to kill me because I didn't even care to try and do well on it and it seemed likely that even the dog had done better than I had), and trying to keep Seto from having a breakdown. I watched as he faded between being secure and insecure with his current situation – that is, with him now knowing he was gay. The reason this surprised or distressed him eluded me, but it was interesting to watch him hop back and forth between being okay with the idea, and then becoming defensive.

It wasn't unrealistic to think that Seto might reject me, 'us', and decide he was better off completely cutting me from his life to protect his glorious self-image. So now I was stuck waiting for him to make his damn decision, all the while teasing him with occasional glances and carefully-planned contact.

There were moments that day that he looked like he was ready to explode from sexual tension, and I really couldn't be any prouder to get to say I was the one responsible. I mean, seriously, how many other people could just drop their eyelids a little and make Seto Kaiba horny?

It was the best gift _ever_.

We finally headed home. Seto was trying not to talk to me, and the ride back was tense. Mokuba just sat there, beaming a grin that I'd only ever seen Ryou capable of making. We both knew he'd figured it out and Seto chose not to make commentary about it (since he was still so embarrassed, no doubt, and wasn't fond of discussing it, even with Mokuba).

Mokuba made it clear he was going to be busy all night and was going to a friend's to finish homework, leaving Seto and I to ourselves.

One can imagine what ended up happening.

We didn't even eat dinner. Seto turned his freaking cell off (I'd never seen him do this and it actually caught me off-guard when he threw it somewhere in the vastness of his Living Room) and we ended up back in my room.

He was getting a little braver, but he still required some…education.

I was certainly not going to complain bout playing 'teacher and student'.

He wasn't as nervous the next morning as he'd been before. Seto sat down across from me, read his paper and ate his bagel, and did all of this without looking like he was going to implode. He occasionally glanced at me in a way he'd never done before, but I kept on with my groggy way of going about things, not especially different than I'd been in the past. At least without Ryou, I wasn't getting headaches.

Ryou.

Thinking of him presented an interesting question: what was Seto going to do about Ryou? He and I were obviously fuck-friends, but did that automatically include my Light? Curious to have my newly birthed question answered, I dropped my spoon into my Cocoa Puffs and titled my head to get his blue attention.

"What?"

I pursed my lips. Should I ask? "Meh." I dropped my brown eyes and took another bite of my cereal. I'd let him surprise me.

Never one to enjoy thoughts being cut off so obviously, Seto frowned. But rather than scold me like he normally might, he just lifted his paper and went back to reading.

Someone was in a good mood.

"So does this mean we're dating now?"

The paper drooped slowly, revealing his questioning eyes. Seto glared, because that's what he always did, and Mokuba slowly exited the kitchen with an apple stuck in his mouth. "…Excuse me?"

"I'm just curious," I shrugged. "You're not freaking out like yesterday. Have you finally conceded defeat to my hotness?"

He rolled his eyes as I wriggled my eyebrows. "Full of ourselves, are we?"

"Like you're one to talk."

Seto grunted and dropped his paper, folding it neatly and placing it to the left so he could give me his full attention. Wow. I hadn't had this much real 'attention' from him in a while, but he was focused wholly on me, his irises looking especially dark from the shadows his neatly combed bangs cast over them. "Who ever said I'd asked you on a date?"

I shrugged. "I was just curious. No need to get defensive."

"I'm not defensive."

"Yes you are."

He stiffened and I smiled. It was so easy to irritate him. Seto paused, still looking through me, before finally speaking in his most business-like tone: "I can't afford you."

"Oh? Am I expensive?" I teased.

"You're well aware of what I mean, Bakura."

"What's the big deal? You're gay. Who _cares_?" I waved a hand to dismiss it, sitting back and frowning at him as he remained still and serious. "So that's it? You're going to let other people tell you who and what you can be? _You_? Seto _Kaiba_?"

"It's not that simple."

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head some as I looked away, unable to keep our eye contact for any longer. "_Pfft_… Whatever…"

I'd seriously thought I'd been prepared for his rejection, but…apparently not. My stomach was tight and my heart was racing. How could he just say no like that? Our attraction was so obvious. We got along well. I didn't even like the idea of 'dating' anyone (that implied too much permanency or dependence), but…it was Seto and I. With him, it was different.

Damn…

I sounded like a fucking schoolgirl.

"Whatever." I stood, grabbing my bowl, and worked to look as carefree as usual. "I don't care. I can get whoever I want, anyways. If you want to live in denial, that's fine with me."

Seto sighed a long breath behind me and started to say something but I left before he could even start.

I made it a point to avoid him once we got to school. Seto had been completely outed the day before and hadn't denied that he was gay, so I wasn't really sure what he had in mind about that, but I didn't care at that time.

Once at first period, I sat down besides a surprised Marik, and the Egyptian eyed me wide his wanting purple gaze as I slid into the chair. "And what's this about?" he inistsed, rolling his vision over me as I got comfortable in my old seat.

Malik leaned around his brother to blink at me. "You not going to sit with Kaiba?"

I didn't respond, so Marik grinned and shot Kaiba a snicker before scooting his desk closer. I remained still, staring at nothing in particular as the Egyptian purred ad leaned in close to speak quietly. "He do something?"

"It's nothing important."

"So he had a fit about yesterday," Marik guessed, glancing back at Seto, who just did as I did and stared at nothingness. "So…you're available."

"You know the rule."

Marik hissed but didn't move away. "Yeah. I know the fucking rule. But there isn't anything that says I can't _rape_ you or something…"

I tilted my brown eyes towards him, resting my jaw in one of my cold hands. He was right about that, but my mind was mulling over different things than ways to get around Ryou's rule. Marik was about to become my tool to get what I wanted…_again_. I might have felt bad about it, too, if he weren't such a bastard.

Marik watched me as I smiled and leaned in close, keeping Seto in the corner of my vision. "You're right," I purred. Seto's eyes turned towards us, watching as I flirted. His eyes expanded some when Marik grinned toothily.

"So…can I? Does this mean I have permission?"

"Well, we'd have to make it look like an accident," I replied, slowly leaning back.

Marik eagerly moved closer, his lilac eyes wild and sharp.

Seto turned his head just slightly. He was watching us; listening to us. Good.

"I can do that," Marik snickered, tilting his head. "I'll catch you off-guard or something…"

"Good luck with that."

"Ooh… A challenge…" He chuckled, reaching out to tease some of my hair, which was pulled back again today. I watched Seto tense as Marik played and I grinned, keeping my eyes on the Egyptian, who had no idea I was actually only half-paying attention to him. "This is going to be so fucking hot," Marik grinned. "Gods… I've wanted you so hard the last few weeks…"

"I could see that. What about Duke?"

Marik tilted his head slightly more. "He's not as fun."

"Well, of course not."

"You're mine. You always have been mine."

"Now, now, Marik," I chuckled, "don't get ahead of yourself. We can't see one another. This will be a one-time thing."

"Says who?"

"I'm not letting Ryou go back to Atem."

Marik growled a little but I just leaned back more in my chair, forcing him to move towards me again. "One time it is, then. But I'll make it fucking hard…"

"_Ooh_. Don't make me such promises…"

"What if he doesn't believe you? That it was rape?"

"You'll just have to be especially _brutal_ then, won't you?"

Marik's eyes glazed over and I thought for just a moment that he might actually attempt to plow me right here in front of everyone. "I won't disappoint you." He tried kissing me but before he could, Seto was up and standing beside us, a hand in my hair, jerking me from my seat. I shrieked, not expecting the tug, and reached back to claw at him long arms and release a few select curses.

"What the fuck are you _doing_?" Marik snarled, his face twisting and scrunching as I squirmed and complained.

"_Dammit, Seto_! Let me go!" I shrilled.

Kaiba was almost as strong as Malik, and I knew wriggling wouldn't do me any good, but I did it anyways. Everyone in class was watching us, and it was a good bet that Mahad was hiding under his desk. I could also place a healthy bet on the pharaoh kneeling down beside the desk in attempt to reassure the magician that noting bad was going to happen.

They were oh-so-predictable.

How boring.

"Back off, Ishtar." That was a tone I rarely heard from him. It was the one Seto used when protecting Mokuba or Ryou, and the sound of it soothed me until I stopped my yelling. I just stood there, holding the arm that controlled the hand in my tangled hair, my eyes looking straight-forward as I soaked his words in, only vaguely seeing the look of wrath on Marik's contorted face.

"You don't know what to _do_ with someone like Bakura!" Marik hissed.

"You're just jealous because he prefers me over you."

Marik leaned back, his face falling, his eyes wide. "_Excuse_ me?"

Seto released my hair but grabbed one of my wrists, tugging me roughly towards the door to pull me outside. Malik was screaming when the CEO slammed the door, and because he didn't come after us, it was likely that Malik had intervened.

"What the _hell_?"

Seto glanced down the length of the empty hall to make sure it was empty before pressing me against a locker, forcing our eyes to connect. I couldn't do more than whine because he was using the length of his body to keep me in place and I couldn't move if I wanted to.

"What's all this about? One moment you say you're dropping me, the next you're dragging me away for yourself. What the fuck is it that you want from me? Huh? I've offered you all I have! You _rejected_ me, remember?"

"Fine," he grunted firmly. "Fine…" Seto was nervous, but he was also determined. It was a rare state of mind that I got to witness him experiencing, and my brown eyes were examining him as his blue orbs quivered. The orphan was so bloody fragile and indecisive an uncertain. But I didn't care. I just waited for him to move, which he finally did, planting a kiss, which I immediately accepted and deepened, allowing him to take control. I melted back against the locker, the only thing keeping me up being his pressure.

God. He tasted so fucking good.

Seto pulled back, forcing himself to make eye contact again, even though I could see his anxiety and embarrassment plastered hot-red to his face. "Fine."

"Fine."

He pulled back, letting me hold myself up with my own legs again, but both of us were dazed for just a few moments. We made eye contact again to reinforce what had just happened, and then he took my hand and started walking down the hallway.

"Where are we bloody going?"

"On a fucking _date_."

"You're not serious. In the middle of the school day? _Oooh_. Seto Kaiba is playing hooky."

"Shut the hell up."

So now, everything was perfect.

* * *

GAH. FINALLY, RIGHT? Long chapter, but at least Bakura and Kaiba are finally hooking up… God. Took them long enough Dx! It's like…1/2 way through the story!

Well, anyways, I am uploading some things you need to know about!

First, I am putting up a side story to this one. Fluff, really, with Kaiba and Bakura, s check that out. It amuses me to make them cute.

Second, and more importantly, the next chapter will be picking up after a story that takes place between now and then but is considered a side story too. It's called "The Sleepover" and is from Yugi's POV. That's right, people – YUGI. It's actually a really good little story and is part of the primary plot. I am putting it in another story heading because it's a little long and it would be hard to post it in this and keep it to the flow of the story's theme with Bakura and all that.

So be sure to read those!

Once all of The Sleepover is posted, I can begin chapter 8, and then chapter 9 comes pretty fast after that since it's almost finished. (I skip around a lot!)

I DO plan on doing a yaoi/lemon bit with Kaiba and Bakura at some point. It just didn't happen in this one because the chapter's already so freaking long (sorry about that).

Anyways, on to post the other parts!


	9. No Part of this is Right

Finally – a new chapter! Sorry this took so long! I got sick and changed jobs and lots of other crap's been going on, so I've been distracted. But now things are settling down, so here's another chapter! It was forced in points and I had trouble connecting it so it read really fluid, so excuse the choppiness Dx!

By the way, this chapter takes place after my short story _The Sleepover _which is after chapter 7 and before this but posted elsewhere so as not to disturb the flow of _Questionable Existence _too much (since none of it is related directly to Bakura). If you haven't read it, it can be found on my page.

I'd like to take a moment though to thank everyone who's read this story! Questionable Existence has gotten over 1400 hits and I am super happy to know there are people out there that have been enjoying it! Thanks again!

Hope you enjoy the chapter! Reviews are always welcome!f

Chapter 9 should be up in the next week or so; it's already about half-written. Also, I will be posting another Yugi/Malik ("Balanceshipping" as we call it ovfer here) story that goes with this chapter, as well.

[Reminder: Malik = Yami Marik]

* * *

**Chapter 8****: No part of this is right.**

_(Yami Bakura's POV)_

It was Friday and I was glad Ryou was sleeping so hard. Nothing would stop me from witnessing the aftermath of the Ishtars having spent the night at the Mutou residence. Frankly, I would've been shocked if Atem survived the evening with his limbs intact—Marik could be vicious when irritated.

I'd dared Malik to spend quality time with the Game King twins to prove he could be 'normal' on some level. This had led him to spending the night with them, and where Malik went, Marik followed, (because Marik is clingy and jealous like that) so I was eager to see the result of my dare having come to fruition.

Seto looked especially 'chill' that morning. He was sitting in silence to my right in Marik's old desk, scowling groggily at anyone who invaded out combined personal bubble.

Since we'd started dating a week or so ago, he'd become protective of me (even more than before since he wasn't just looking out for Ryou now). He'd somehow managed to avoid the insane wrath of a certain blonde Egyptian I knew (his time would come; the lag just meant Marik was plotting something) and had apparently laid stake to my soul. I didn't mind his clinginess (as in, he sat beside me without scooting his chair several inches away when I looked at him). It was sort of cute, actually, and I got great amusement from my ability to make him turn red so easily.

He blushed when I smiled at him. "What?" Seto grunted, shifting in his chair.

"_Someone's_ jumpy this morning."

"Shut up." He pulled out his tabbed and color-coordinated notebook (he'd been hanging out with Ryou a bit too much) to review for class. Seto was talented in keeping himself busy to ignore distractions—like me and how hot I was.

I watched him read some notes for a few bored seconds before sitting back and sighing.

Where were they? It wasn't like the twerp to be later than ten minutes early for class, and Atem always got to school early nowadays too so he could flirt with the still naive Mahad. The sub was already in class and I watched him move to get everything set up, trying my best to make him uncomfortable with my flat stare. He pretended not to notice it, but acting wasn't the magician's forte.

Just when I thought Marik really _had_ skinned the Mutou twins and buried them in his backyard, joining three pizza guys and a mailman that wore a color Marik had decided he hated (it was lime green, I think), the door opened and Malik and Yugi strolled in. The pipsqueak looked disheveled, and I decided this meant either he'd been kept up all night or had been molested by Malik – or both.

I watched as Yugi came inside and sat in his usual seat aside the dog, who was fast asleep and drooling on his desk. Yugi just smiled at him.

God, they were so gay sometimes. I could swear that they were, too, if it weren't for the dog's obsessive crush on the another substitute, Mai Valentine, another blonde that I couldn't stomach more than two minutes of direct contact with. She taught Sex Ed (big surprise), but we didn't have to take that until next semester. That didn't stop the two blondes from flirting in the hallways between classes. Her being a few years older didn't seem to faze the dog, and I was not looking forward to the day when the whore got pregnant with blonde puppies.

A distraction might have been good right about then. Imagining the two blondes going at it was enough to make me want to stab my no.2 pencil through my eye.

Malik came over to stick his long tongue at me. (Thank God for a distraction…) I noted how _chipper_ the blonde looked. He was typically silent and glaring this early in the morning, but Malik was actually grinning as he sat to my left.

How disconcerting.

"So?" I demanded.

"…So?"

He stared at me so I just glared right back, quickly growing impatient by his idiocy. "How did it go?"

He tilted his head. "How did _what_ go?"

"Dammit, Malik!" I growled. "How did the bloody 'sleepover' go? What you did last night? I sent you there to test your 'normality', remember?"

"Oh! That!"

"Yes." Bloody moron… "That. How did _that_ go?"

Malik grinned madly the way he did when he got to try a new food for the first time. "I like him!"

"…What?"

Seto slowly turned to face the blonde so he too could glare at him with his baffled, twisted expression.

"I _like_ him," Malik repeated.

Oh for the love of Christ! Why was he smiling like that? It was so bad that Seto couldn't stand looking at it any longer and had to turn his eyes back to his textbook. I always knew the glitter was that genuine when it forced my brunette to look away. It was like holding up a glowing cross to a vampire.

"Where's your brother?" For the moment, I chose to ignore his response; it was too early to get that nauseated or confused. I was more interested in where the other set of twins had gone, anyways. That, and Seto probably couldn't stand that smile anymore; I knew it would probably burn his face off, even if he didn't look directly at it. "Where are Marik and the pharaoh?"

"They parked the car," Malik replied, his face finally relaxing as his eyes rolled up in consideration of that morning. He couldn't seem to think about more than one thing at any given time, so forcing him to consider that morning's events was a good way of getting that damn smile off his face. "I saw Marik in the hall earlier, so he should be getting here soon. I don't know what's keeping them, actually," he shrugged. "I guess they could be having sex or something."

That made Seto jerk his face back towards Malik and my eyes to widen. "…What?"

Malik's face remained relaxed. He looked like he was starting to get distracted again, so if I wanted any information out of the Egyptian dumbass, it would have to be soon. "Oh. Yeah," he yawned. "They slept together last night."

"_WHAT_?"

He rolled his lilac eyes. "I _know_! Weird, right?"

How could he possibly say that while looking so calm? So disinterested? So undisgusted and so unconfused?

WHAT THE FUCK?

Atem and _Marik_?

My whole world was collapsing!

Seto suddenly seemed to feel the need to make his own commentary. He leaned over my shoulder to eye Malik, his brow slowly tilting. "You're not fucking serious."

Malik bobbed his spiky head. "It's true."

"Dear God." He sat back, rubbing his temples with a pair of manicured fingers.

I was glad to know I wasn't the only person highly disturbed by this little development. Marik was a whore, sure, but I never thought he'd sleep with Atem! Atem: the embodiment of all things obnoxious and ignorant and evil! How _could_ he?

I was feeling especially betrayed when the two missing students entered the classroom.

Atem came in first, shoved in by an irritable Marik who wore an expression I was all-too-familiar with. He was pissed, but it was probably more because now the pharaoh was off-limits to be attacked or maimed now that his brother was interested in Yugi. That had to suck, actually. I could still get away with stabbing Atem in the leg, but Marik was now bound by his brother's watchful eyes. There was no way Malik would allow him to injure his new little friend's brother, and I snickered teasingly at the blonde as Marik sat down behind Malik, ignoring Atem's ranting. …Mostly.

I still couldn't figure out how the whole 'sleeping together' thing happened.

"You could have _killed_ us, you know!" Atem barked while being jerked into his seat by a suddenly awake and useful Wheeler. The dog attempted to quiet him down some since Mahad was giving them a hard glare (he was getting ballsier nowadays, especially with that group), but Atem just growled and mumbled about what a prick Marik was.

Poor Marik.

Wait—no '_poor Marik_'! He slept in the enemy's camp!

I snorted and looked away when he attempted to speak to me, turning my brown eyes back to my left at a grinning Malik. God, why did he always smile that that? "And what the hell are _you_ so happy about this early in the morning?"

"I made a friend!" He smiled a bit wider and I leaned back in my seat.

I felt Seto's disdain waft towards me from the right as he shifted uncomfortably in his green chair. He didn't handle genuine joy very well unless it came from Mokuba or Ryou. I was quite certain that things like butterflies and sparkles and kittens made him die a little inside. God only knew blonde puppies would probably make him implode (which was only one of the many twisted reasons I loved him so much).

"You mean the twerp?"

"Yugi's cool."

I arched a pale brow. "He's not _obnoxious_," I commented, "but I wouldn't go so far as to call him 'cool'."

"He's freaking adorable!"

I'd never seen him with that crazy-happy of a grin before and it made me nervous. I frowned as I felt myself growing queasy. He was fucking serious: he actually liked Yugi. What the hell was happening? I'd never intended for them to actually become friends. This was ridiculous!

"_Adorable_?" Seto was even more upset by this than I was, probably because he hated Yugi and I didn't especially mind the midget—but that didn't mean I'd enjoy spending the night with him. How the crap did this all happen? "Are you fucking serious, Ishtar?"

Malik bobbed his head, still smiling, and released a sound that resembled a twisted giggle.

Before Seto or I could groan again, Mahad had decided to begin class and we were forced to redirect our attentions. At least it would be a distraction from the cancerous relationships suddenly budding around me…

_-(Next Scene)-_

I was walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria with Seto when we heard a commotion. Normally I wouldn't find this so interesting if I hadn't heard Malik's name being yelled in the midst of it. He was insane, but it was rare that he was violent when unprovoked, so my curiosity was raised.

I glanced towards Seto to let him know what I was doing, and he just rolled his gorgeous eyes before following me towards where the yells were coming from.

There was a posse of morons surrounding the blonde Egyptian. I wasn't sure where Marik was in all of this (usually he kept close to Malik, so he might have been stuck in class) but my brown eyes moved to inspect the scene before I decided what to do about it.

The blonde's back was towards me. He was guarding someone against the lockers, obviously protecting them from the bullies. He was serious, too. I knew he was serious because he was deathly quiet. Nothing good came from a tense, quiet, protective Malik.

It was pretty obvious, at least to me, that the person he was guarding was Yugi, his new little friend. They'd somehow bonded after spending a night together, so now I was stuck with them and their awkward relationship. Malik wasn't protective of just anyone – he meant business with Yugi. This was no ordinary crush, and I might as well get used to it.

"You want us to stop them," Seto mumbled as I watched the group yell and prepare to attack the blonde.

I didn't move from my position, idly watching from the sidelines with relaxed eyes, hands in the pockets of my blue uniform (damn, this thing was uncomfortable) as I decided what to do. "It's either that or wait for Malik to pull someone's arm off when they manage to get Yugi out from under him."

"That might be entertaining, actually."

"Maybe," I grunted. "But I'm starving and I don't have time for this crap. I want my food."

Seto sighed and folded his arms but didn't argue as I moved towards the group. He just fell into step beside me like he always did, following my lead.

The group stopped and turned when they sensed our approach. A couple of them looked prepared to take a swing at one or both of us, but Seto's scowl seemed to disarm them. They changed their minds pretty quickly. I didn't have to do a thing to make them scatter – Seto's expression always did such a good job of scaring people shitless. I gave one of them a casual kick in the ass as he escaped just to feel like I'd actually done something.

Malik glanced back at me once the hall had emptied and gave me one of his insane grins (the sort that made Seto squirm, which he did).

I folded my arms. "Getting into fights now?"

"I could have handled them."

Yugi poked one of his large purple eyes from under Malik's arm.

"Babysitting the twerp today?" Seto grunted, causing Malik to release a low growl and Yugi to hide again.

I snickered. He was being quite protective. Yugi was now untouchable and there was no use teasing them any longer. Besides, I was hungry as hell. "Relax, Malik. No one is going to hurt your new plaything," I assured before starting to walk again. Seto moved to follow me like he always did and we marched towards the cafeteria.

_-(Next Scene)-_

No part of this was right.

I watched Marik park Yugi next to him, keeping Duke on his other side so Marik and the small Game King were as far apart as humanly possible. Of course, this also placed the blonde directly across from Atem, and it didn't make it past me that Malik had planned this on purpose. Marik would be wholly distracted and Yugi, the naïve and helpless little koala that he was, would be plenty protected from the Egyptian's wrath.

This was _not_ what I'd expected to come of my dare…

Yugi wasn't supposed to be invited to our table of misfits, and Atem and Marik sure as hell weren't supposed to be whores together!

The surrealism of my situation remained nauseating and now I was stuck with it until the giant lost interest in the midget. The only problem with this was that Malik was obsessive, and once he decided that he liked something (or someone), he rarely gave up chase until he got what he wanted, and then he'd proceed to smother it until it was dead. So my current situation was frozen: Yugi would be a staple in my life. Where I went, Marik went, and where Marik went, Malik came, so now Yugi came too, and that meant I'd have to watch Marik and Atem rotate between trying to kill one another and making out.

Shit.

This was definitely _not_ going as planned.

Seto was equally thrown off by the setting and made no effort to hide how irritated he was about all of it. Irritated and confused. But at least Marik's hatred of Seto would be derailed by his close contact with Atem.

Being in this group of freaks could be exhausting sometimes.

"So," Yugi smiled nervously as we all stared at the awkward addition to our growing table, "how has everyone's day been going?"

"_Peachy_," snarled Marik.

Yugi tensed and that sent Malik into mama-bear mode. I snickered at the unamused expression he shot his twin, which made Marik scowl at his salad.

Yugi didn't seem to notice the smile the taller blonde was glowing in his direction. "That's…good," the smaller teenager giggled when he got a pat on the head.

As strange as it was, maybe Yugi and Malik would prove to be a new source of entertainment – that made them tolerable, but I still didn't like or understand the Ishtar's newest fixation. They weren't alike or anything. It wasn't like Seto and I, bonding over sarcasm and our general pessimistic world views. What did Malik see in Yugi that made him like him so much? I never would have imagined they'd bond, much less that the insane blonde would crush so inexplicably hard on the purple-eyed baby panda. Yet, there they were: sitting together at lunch with Malik shooting stars at the rainbow-exploding Yugi.

I seriously might barf.

Duke was the only person at the table that seemed unaffected by the development; he was probably more concerned with Atem and Marik. Before that day, the only threat to his dating the blonde was me. Marik might hate Atem, but this seemed to make him ironically excited. Duke had a run for his money now, but he didn't appear to be concerned. There was the possibility that he didn't mind either way since he and Marik were just casually dating and he didn't have any emotional attachment at stake.

Still… Losing Marik to Atem…

How embarrassing.

At the end of the day, everything had changed: Malik was now wholly preoccupied by his crush on Yugi, and the leftover twins were now being forced to hang out together. Atem and Marik had no place sitting together in the PE stands, or chatting at lunch, but that seemed to be the growing circumstances with which I would now have to live.

If I'd known that any of this would happen just with that one fucking dare, I'd never done it at all.

It would only get worse. I knew this because I watched Malik's interactions with the still oblivious and friendly Yugi, and I could practically see the sparkles shooting from the blonde's face. Malik was completely infatuated, and that meant Marik and Atem were stuck together and I was going to be forced to watch.

Seto seemed to be just as nauseated by the displays. He and I just stood there on the curb, staring at the awkward foursome as the two pairs of twins left the school, because neither of us could bring ourselves to _not_ notice them.

"This is freaking ridiculous," Seto mumbled as we watched Malik help Yugi in the car ('help' meant scooping him up and 'gently' placing the midget in the back seat while Atem complained about him dare touching Yugi at all and Marik just glaring silently at the three of them from behind, presumably asking himself how easy it would be to fuck Atem). "How long is this going to continue? His attention span can't last very long."

I sighed and rubbed at my temple a little before sliding into the limo, allowing Seto to come in after me. "You'd be surprised. Malik is a passionate person, and when he likes something he tends to obsess. Not only that, but there's no way of knowing when that obsession will end."

I didn't think I'd ever understand what was happening. If I were lucky, Malik was going through an "_Oh, look how cute the puppy is_!" phase and he'd lose interest when the puppy got older and a new one strolled by. Yugi wouldn't be growing much anytime soon, though, so my puppy-theory was swiftly deflated.

Well, shit…

And if _that_ awkward almost-couple wasn't enough just having to sit with at lunch, I really had no idea how bad it would be to see Marik and Atem paw at one another, which I did later that day in another class. They reminded me of two horny, pissed off cats—one second they were fighting and shrilling and clawing at each other, and then I got to see them making out on the floor while the teacher had a panic-attack. During all of this, I wanted to gouge out my own eyes with the spork I carried in my backpack (you never really know when you'll need a spork and I liked feeling prepared). The dog's reaction to all of this was almost worth it, though. Joey seemed even more horrified by the sadistic relationship than I was. He'd learned not to try to separate them when Marik threw him into a desk.

At least some things never changed.

The next week was spent trying to ignore the two couples, even though neither pair was considered to be dating (at least not _yet_). It was impossible not to take notice of them, especially with Marik and Atem making such ruckus in the background. I did find Malik and Yugi's interactions interesting to watch at times, though. Yugi was perhaps the most naive and oblivious teenage boy I'd known. Malik watched the pipsqueak with such attentiveness that he walked into a wall at least twice over the last several days. He came up with every possible excuse to spend time with Yugi. If it weren't for Marik's groping, Atem would probably have screamed a little more often at the spiky-haired blonde for daring to show such an interest in his 'little brother'.

I knew someone needed to alert the tiny Game King to his predicament, but I wasn't certain if it was my place to do so. That, and it was sort of fun seeing how ignorant he was to Malik's crush.

When feeling particularly troubled by my horny peers, I used the excuse the quickly-approaching Seto's birthday and Halloween to preoccupy my mind.

My blue-eyed brunette's birthday was only two weeks away now, and I had nothing planned. Ryou and I decided that we'd each get him different gifts. Well, Ryou demanded I get Seto a gift from myself, rather than getting a piggyback on his plans.

"Just because we share the same body doesn't mean you can mooch off my ideas." He wrote that in Spring Green, so I knew he was serious.

It looked like I was on my own this time.

Since we'd moved in with Seto, my Light and I had gradually moved from being considered a single entity with psychological problems to being two different people sharing a body. I still considered myself to be an extension of Ryou, but more and more I was realizing that we lived wholly different lives. Sure, we shared the same body and soul and whatever, but we each had our own 'things' now. We had different rooms, coffee mugs, clothes, tastes in food, skills, and opinions. We even had different silverware and bowls we liked to use for breakfast.

The time had apparently come that even gifts we gave to people were going to be different.

What the _hell_ do you get someone like _Seto Kaiba_, anyways? He had everything already!

Ryou suggested I make him something. _PFFT_—like I was a craftsman or artist or something… Well, I could draw. Not many people knew that, actually. Mokuba had commented on it a few times when I doodled during his homework sessions, but I never thought much of my scribbles. Most of what came out of my head was messed up looking, anyways, and I considered it just another way for my psychosis to show through my thin faux-sanity-veil. So what the hell was I supposed to do now?

Seto was too much of a prude to accept anything like sex-coupons, and I wasn't about to make him anything Blue Eyes related. (Though, I _had_ considered getting him a cake in the shape of a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and then make it explode or something, but that seemed time-consuming and I'm lazy, so that idea fell through.)

I had a couple weeks left to figure it out.

In the meantime, I also had Halloween on my mind. Halloween was my favorite holiday, and for good reason. Who didn't like running around dressed up as a werewolf, threatening people in public, throwing rotten eggs at old ladies' houses, and getting to consume their weight in sugar and food coloring? I could only hope I was the one awake for the holiday. I'd not been so lucky last year and woke up the morning after dressed up like a fairy. Damn it, Ryou!

Plans to convert the Kaiba Mansion in to a Haunted House were also underway. Mokuba was on my side, so it was only a matter of time before we broke his brother in. Between the kid and my Light, Seto didn't stand a chance. Malik and Marik were going to be my alter-egos in this plot, and the three of us spent plenty of Detentions working on our plans for the house. I had yet to convince Seto to dress up as anything just yet, but I was still looking for that perfect costume so I wasn't in a rush. I wanted it to be perfect. By the time the Ishtars and I were done, the house would be a dungeon of gore and terror, Seto would be in a sexy costume, and I'd be scaring the royal _piss_ out of Atem.

Just three weeks and I'd be the happiest imaginary friend ever.

But until then I was stuck stressed out over the birthday issue and trying my best to ignore the Ishtars' current purple-haired fixations.

_-(Next Scene)-_

It was the first time in the week-ish that I'd woken up in the morning, and I knew instinctually that my Light had been 'out and about' for a few days. He had a calendar On the wall that he always faced where he wrote his schedule, when he'd last been awake, and crossed out his days so we could keep track of one another. (I had a similar calendar, but it didn't have kittens and stickers and gel-pen all over it.) But when I opened my eyes there was no kitty calendar to greet me, no wall of pictures with baby animals, Lisa Frank posters, or photos of him with the ever-straight-faced and blushing Seto.

This was _not_ Ryou's room…

Waking up in strange places wasn't anything to be alarmed over—we did that a lot. What I was trying to figure out, in my groggy state of mind, was why I had no pajamas on. Where the bloody hell were my clothes?

Now, most people that knew me knew I slept in the nude (my Light complained about this and I kept a spare shirt and boxers in the lower drawer of my nightstand for him), but Ryou slept in flannel pajamas—at the moment, he favored Hello Kitty.

I knew I was naked, but why wasn't so clear.

I also knew I wasn't in Ryou's, my, Mokuba's, or even Seto's room.

My growing headache was becoming a challenge, but it was one I'd dealt with before and the curiosity of my mystery-situation was too much for me to roll over and try to go back to sleep. I began to inspect my surroundings for clues.

The wall I was staring at was white, and it might have been considerably boring to look at if there hadn't been a freaking dragon statue blocking half my vision.

…Wait.

What?

I settled a brown eye on the statue for further inspection.

This couldn't be happening... It was a fucking Blue Eyes White Dragon!

Was I dreaming? Was this reality? The dragon was coiled around what I could now see was the 'pillar' on the corner of the bed. My eyes followed the shape upwards, noticing designs that reminded me of old Grecian temples, until I saw the draping silvery-blue sheets of sheer fabric that flowed in sheets.

Holy sweet mother of crap…

I was now partially on my back so I could gawk at the ceiling. It was one massive mural of the sky with Blue Eyes flittering about everywhere like they were fucking _cherubs_. I had to admit it was tasteful (well, as tasteful as a huge-ass mural of dragons flying through clouds could be) and was done very well in the classic style, but for the love of God, was this seriously reality?

Holy shit! It was real! The Blue Eyes Room was fucking _real_!

I sat upright, the bristled hairs on my head crinkled and unkempt, and proceeded to gape at the room of dragons. They were friggin everywhere. Blue Eyes bed, Blue Eyes statues, Blue Eyes mirror thingy, Blue Eyes silver tea-set set upon an oak table with marble Blue Eyes holding it upright with their wings! And right in the middle of it, staring straight at me, was Seto Kaiba, whom was dressed in that white robe with the red lining that I loved so much, and holding a Blue Eyes coffee mug.

I could feel how contorted my expression was. This was disgusting. Not especially surprising, but disgusting all the same! "You're wearing Blue Eyes _slippers_, aren't you?"

He paused and continued to stare at me, looking as indifferent as ever. "No," he lied.

The hairs on my head seemed to bristle higher, but it must have looked silly since they were wrinkled because Seto just smirked. Son of a bitch! "I bet you are!" I accused. "I knew it! I _knew_ that you had a room like this! I just _knew_ it!" Now I was getting excited. I'd known since my first sleepover that a place like this had to exist, and Seto had tried so hard for so long to keep me from discovering it, but I had! I'd found his bloody dragon fetish room! I laughed, jutting an accusing finger at the silent CEO. "Hah! You've been caught, Seto!"

"That's funny," he lowered his blue eyes to the paper he was holding and took a sip from his dragon-y mug, "I don't remember being _caught_."

"Heh?"

"Waking up in a room where you're invited doesn't exactly insinuate that you've uncovered much of anything, now does it?"

I blinked and groggily processed the information before pouting. He was right. I hadn't found the room—I'd woken up in it! Obviously he'd let Ryou…in…

My pout evolved into a glare. Seto's eyelids perked when noticing my snarl. "You son of a bitch! You slept with Ryou!"

He shrugged and turned, now beginning to wander away, sipping more at that black coffee with single Splenda packet (with fiber!) of his. "So what if I did?"

I moved to leap off the bed but only wailed and face-planted the wooden floor when one of my lanky legs got caught up in the red silk sheets. "_Whore_!" I wailed from my tangled position half off the bed, half on the floor. I snarled but did little to remove myself from the mass of red sheets—I was still too tired to fight well, and my brain was slowly beginning to become mush.

Seto returned to the bed, casually placing his cup and the newspaper on the nightstand before kneeling to assist me in the quiet way he always did that sort of thing. I snarled again but he just smirked and that only pissed me off even more. "Such drama," he chuckled. "I would have thought you'd be happy. Wasn't it you that tried hooking us up before?"

My frown was permanently etched onto my pale face and I'd have given just about anything to have the energy to claw his beautiful eyes out right about then. "You're a _whore_," I mumbled as he helped release my leg from the sheets. "You think you can have _both_ of us? Just like that?"

"Basically."

"Whore."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it: you're jealous."

Now free of the sheets, I snarled and jerked in attempt to grab at him but Seto just leaned back to avoid me before grabbing my wrist with that Kung-Fu-grip of his. I cursed and wriggled, pulling in vain. In my fit, I succeeded once again in entangling myself, now swerving and twirling atop the silky sheets on the wooden floor. "You're an asshole!"

"Probably." Seto grabbed by other hand and I snarled again. "But I never claimed to be otherwise. Now then, are you finished with your fit?"

I wanted to spit at him, but his eyes numbed my willpower to the point that I was now lying on the floor, naked, half-tangled in his red sheets, staring up into his irises with a relaxed face. Damn it to hell, his eyes were too strong! I felt myself relax as he stared into me. My tension began to trickle away the longer he kept our eyes connected. How was it that just a month or so before that his eyes had caused me such tension and now they lulled my insanity away and turned me into mush? I didn't get that transition of effect at all.

Once I was completely relaxed and under his blue control, he smirked. "Good." Seto leaned down and did something unexpected. My eyes widened when he kissed me. What the hell? I closed my eyes and allowed him to do it, only melting a little more from his bizarre gentility. When he retracted, I was completely helpless and I must have resembled Ryou because he only looked at my Light and Mokuba like that. "Now then, are you really that upset over Ryou and I?"

It took several moments to find the breath to speak. "Not really," I replied. "It just caught me off-guard is all." That was an understatement. I knew Seto and Ryou got along and that they were at least mildly attracted to one another, but I hadn't been expecting Seto to get the nerve to jump him.

My brain began to tingle. Memories would be lifting soon. I wasn't sure if I should look forward to it or be horrified at the imagery of Ryou and Seto screwing around.

"I care for Ryou," Seto admitted, still leaning partially over me. He began to work once again on freeing my legs. I just lied there, still and quiet. "I care for the both of you. Though, admittedly, if I had to pick I'd pick you." I wanted to complain about his sudden mushiness, but the willpower just wasn't there. I spent my time staring up at his insanely overdone ceiling, trying to redirect my mind to my normal, sarcastic self.

I didn't enjoy feeling like that, all soft and squishy and helpless, but Seto was talented at putting me in that particular state of mind and I had very little power to fight back when it happened. It was easier just to let the moment come and pass and then return to my assy self when it was all over with. "But with you both sharing a body, I just assumed it would be all right. You're almost the same person."

"We _are_ the same person," I corrected. What the hell was up with the Blue Eyes in the right corner? It looked so derp in that pose, I wanted to get some acrylics and correct it. That would piss Seto off so bad, it might almost be worth taking a paint brush to.

"That has yet to be proven."

I just grunted, still busying my fuzzy mind with the painting while my headache began to worsen.

"Now let's get you in the shower." I was limp and unwilling to fight him when he scooped me up. "You'll be getting your memories soon and we need to get you ready for class still. You were out of business for two days."

"It's Friday," I weakly concluded. I wished my eyes would remain open—I wanted to study that room more so I could tease him incessantly later—but they closed shut when my vision blurred and my headache began to pulse.

"You're lucky," he chuckled. I could feel that I was being carried upwards. Where was the room? Where was it? Damn! I couldn't lift my eyelids! He knew that, too, because Seto showed no signs of anxiety. He didn't want me to know where his bloody room was, I was sure of that, but he knew I was a sponge when in this state so he didn't have to especially worry. I probably wouldn't remember most of anything I saw anyways.

I groaned and felt Seto lean his head against mine for a moment. What the hell was all this sudden mushiness about? Being with Ryou must have affected him in some way. If Seto was going to be like this all the bloody time, I might just have to break up with him. I couldn't stand it. Lucky for the both of us, that wasn't the case.

I woke up in the shower with cool water raining on me. It was my shower, and if I didn't have Ryou's rather naughtily-vivid memories burned so strongly into my mind, I would have thought it was all some weird dream.

Friggin' hell… They really _had_ slept together…

Ryou seemed all right with it. It hadn't been planned or anything and went over smoothly. Because of my exploits, he wasn't a virgin, and that did seem to help a lot. I was pretty sure that Seto had just been curious, but it was apparent his curiosity had turned into actual affection. He liked Ryou, and Ryou like him, and now it looked as though we were in some weird three-way relationship… Or was it? After all, Ryou and I were the same person and shared the same body, so it was more like Seto was now dating a whole person.

Whatever.

It hurt to think about it, so I just let it pass.

Once I was cleaned up and dressed, I came down for breakfast and got to witness Seto being his grouchy self, yelling at someone on the phone before cursing at me for taking so long.

Things seemed back to normal.

Now it was time to face a Friday of classes. I had a test in History that I was doomed to fail and a pharaoh to tease.

_-(Next Scene)-_

A week passed without any major event. Of course, Seto and I had to stomach the hearts Malik shot from his ass when Yugi was there, and we had to tolerate Atem and Marik dating—yes…dating (as if screwing each other on the side just wasn't good enough for him). I was now concocting a plan to hook the pharaoh and the substitute together because, well, I knew they'd hit it off and I was tired of watching him and the blonde making out, and this….this was just hell to have to sit through.

It was Friday again, and Ryou hadn't been awake for four days so I was expecting to sleep any time now and have those weird dreams where Seto was named Seth and was a priest and I was an angry hobo. Until Ryou showed back up, I just had to keep myself preoccupied—and awake for class. When we went several days between one another, we got sleepy, and that was especially that day. I was yawning and nodding in and out in class (Mahad had slammed a hand on my desk at least twice today) and wasn't sure how long I could keep awake. But there was shit to be done, so I kept Red Bulls handy. After all, there was shit to be done.

I needed to drop by my father's place to grab my stuff and leave him a letter explaining that Ryou wasn't going to be coming back. He wouldn't take that very lightly, but Seto and I were certain that we could handle him now. (Seto had even brought out the paperwork to change my name and send me off somewhere if that was really necessary, though I still wasn't 100% convinced any of that would work). I'd convinced Ryou to allow me to do it for him, because the last thing we needed was Zorc beating him around again.

I planned on doing that after class.

"So," I watched Yugi put his books away, "you and Malik sure have been hanging out a lot."

Kaiba and Malik weren't out of class yet and the blonde giant had sent me to stand guard over his naïve boy-toy-in-the-making. Since Joey was in detention this afternoon, someone had to guard the pipsqueak—I guess that meant me.

"Yup!" he smiled, closing his locker and stuffing his blue bag with books.

If I had to babysit, I might as well make it a little fun. "You guys do seem to get along pretty well," I commented, leaning against the lockers and folding my pale arms.

"Yeah!"

I couldn't look directly into his massive eyes too long without feeling sick. How did Malik do it?

"He's pretty cool," Yugi continued, smiling bashfully enough to make my own cheeks tinge pink when I glanced at him. "I enjoy spending time with Malik."

"So I've noticed. You're joined at the hop most of the time."

Yugi laughed. "Sometimes I think Joey gets a little jealous."

I arched an eyebrow. He really made it too easy. "I bet," I snickered, "why with you and Malik hanging out in class, at lunch, after school, and over weekends. You've barely been friends for a few weeks now, right?"

He blushed but nodded and gave me a smile that was probably enough to put Marik into a coma. "Yeah. He's just so easy to get along with. Malik's so…I dunno…"

"Easy to talk to?"

This seemed to properly complete the tiny Game King's thoughts because he flashed me a large smile. "Yeah!"

"And fun."

"Well, yeah. That too!"

"And he's gorgeous, of course." I grinned when he shot pink. "For a boy, I mean."

"…Yeah… I mean…I guess so…

I smirked evilly, shrugging and keeping our eye contact steady. "You should probably be careful though."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"With Malik," I clarified.

"Oh." Yugi pulled his backpack on. "He's not dangerous… At least not to me."

"You're sure about that?"

He nodded. "Malik just gets overexcited sometimes."

Both Ishtars had that tendency. At least Malik didn't stab you in the thigh when _he_ got worked up. I had plenty of scars to prove how easily I could get his twin all wound up. "I know. Hence why you should be careful."

Yugi frowned. "He won't hurt me."

"Not _intentionally_, no,"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Ooh… The mini Game King was getting defensive! "Well, he likes you," I shrugged, highly amused by that point by the irritated look on my peer's normally soft face. "That having been said, he could injure you."

"…I don't get what you mean…"

I rolled my eyes and sighed, scratching the back of my neck. Silly, naive little Yugi. It was time someone broke the ice, and no one else looked like they had the balls to do it. Might as well be me. Somehow, it was _always_ me. Oh well; at least it gave me a purpose in life other than keeping Ryou from choking on someone's fist. "You know he likes you—right?"

"Of course. He's my friend."

"No." I kept my face as straight and as serious as possible to drive the message home. Yugi was smarter than Atem was, but sometime he could be just as dense. "He _likes_ you."

Yugi began to make the distressed whining sound he always made when especially startled. It sort of reminded me of the sound a baby animal made when frightened, and I half-expected an angry Malik come storming down the hallway to beat my face in. Yugi's purple eyes were swollen with surprise and his expression flushed pale and confused. "…Wh…what are you talking about?"

"You didn't know Malik was gay?"

"_No_!"

"Oh. Hmm. _Well_ then," I snickered, "now you know, I suppose."

He whimpered at this and seemed to begin to internalize his thoughts, probably going back over the weeks he'd spent with the blonde. His face shifted from sheet white to bright red. Looked like he was stumbling over all those clues and hints he should have been picking up.

Should I have felt at least a little bad for tormenting him? Probably. But someone had to clarify Yugi's situation and it might as well have been me, especially when there was fun to be had in the progress.

"Malik's really…gay…?"

"Gayer than your brother," I huffed.

There was another loud whine.

"Oh, _relax_." I pat him sturdily on the back, making the petite teenager grunt and pout. "I mean, it's not like _you're_ gay too." Yeah. I was a total dick. Seto and I really deserved one another.

His eyes fell to the floor. More internalizing. "…Right…"

"Sure, you hang out with him at every given chance," I shrugged, "and you openly admit to finding him attractive, but you don't _like_ him. Right?"

Poor Yugi looked confused enough to explode. Or melt. Or whatever pygmy pharaohs did when embarrassed. But it shut down his rainbows.

"Just don't be a tease," I went serious again. Messing with him was just too much fun. "Malik likes you a lot."

"…You're serious…aren't you? …Malik really…" he paused for a long moment, looking for the pressure to force the last two words out, "_likes_ me?"

"He's only been all over you since you became friends."

"He has…?"

"You're sort of adorable when you're this naive," I chuckled, making him shoot red again. "Malik knows you're straight," I continued, "so he's been fairly well-behaved. But his crush on you is painfully obvious. If you'd let him, he'd probably stick his hand down your pants." I smirked and watched my peer stiffen. "But you're straight and he likes you enough to respect that, and believe me when I say that means he likes you a _lot_. I didn't expect it to happen, but you've really got that blonde moron whipped."

Yugi just gawked at me, looking confused, horrified, and embarrassed. He was easier to look at like this, without all those sparkles and ponies and glitter in the way.

"Well," my work was now complete," I need to grab my obnoxiously-hot boyfriend from last period." I nodded my head towards where Malik was strolling down the hall, waving happily in our direction and excusing me from my guard-duties. "You have a good weekend there, twerp." I winked before turning to leave, abandoning Yugi to deal with his confusion and his questions.

The rest was up to him.

Seto had also been released from class and was waiting for me beside the front exit. "You ready to head out?"

"I have to run an errand first," I explained, pulling an unmarked envelope from my pocket. "I'll meet you at home in a few hours."

He eyed me carefully, staring at the envelope like he could see through it. It wouldn't surprise me if he could, actually; Seto could do some strange shit when motivated. "Fine," he grunted, finally turning to walk out. I followed him out the door, slipping the letter into the inner pocket of my jacket. "But be sure you're on time for dinner tonight. If you're late, I'll have to call the cops on you."

I rolled me eyes because I knew he wasn't lying. Seto had done that before with me and had done it several times already when Ryou was late at all. "You're so paranoid. I'll befine. It's me, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. That's the problem."

I growled but held the door to his car for him so he could slide inside. "_Ass_."

"_Dick_."

We exchanged affectionate smirks.

"Be home for dinner."

"Fine, fine. I'll be home in time for your bloody supper. Just get home and fire someone." I slammed the door shut and the limo sped off.

Now it was time to deliver that letter.

Or…it would have been, had I not sat down half way there and passed out. Too sleepy to convince myself not to take a 15-minute nap (I was making good time and Zorc usually had meetings until late on Fridays), I set my phone to wake me up and allowed my mind to clock out.

Probably not the best idea I'd ever had.

* * *

Sorry this chapter is so choppy and crappish! Chapter 9 is better. I WILL have that one finished soon because it'll be easier to write.


	10. Scars

SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, GUYS, HOLY CRAP. I've been busy and hit writer's block… I had to force out half this chapter, so, in my opinion, it's poo. But here it is! I will work on the next one asap! I also have some side stories that can go with it that are ready to be posted.

This chapter can't be from Bakura's POV, because he's unconscious for it. And since I don't feel like skipping ahead and then backtracking, I'm just going to write this from Marik and Kaiba's POVs, but then I'll go back to Bakura's, so be prepared from some POV-jumps. I don't normally care for skipping around in POVs, as a writer or as a reader, so I will keep it as minimal as possible.

Never written from Marik's POV before, but we'll give it a shot and see what happens.

And remember that 'Malik' = 'Yami Marik'.

And thanks again to all of you guys that have been keeping up with this silly story! I am still surprised at the hits it's received! I hope you enjoy the chapter 8D!

Reviews are welcomed 8D!

_Disclaimer__: LOL I DO NOT OWN YUGIOH. IMAGINE THAT.

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**Chapter 9:** _Scars_

(Marik's POV)

It was still early when my twin abandoned me for his nerdy little boyfriend – eleven, I guess. Malik had brought Yugi with us to a movie and the little thorn in my side got sleepy so Malik took him home. Stupid, bothersome, annoying little fucker.

I'd tried various things to separate them but it had all failed. Yugi Mutou had proven to be a much larger challenge to get rid of than his size would make him out to be.

If I could get away with it without Malik turning against me, I'd have taken care of the spiky-haired problem weeks ago, but Malik was the only person besides my sister that I could trust, so the pygmy remained safe…for now.

Since my brother had abandoned me this evening, I was left to wander the streets of Domino City by myself. I didn't care to be by myself; it made me nervous. I always felt exposed and vulnerable, and usually that led me to be violent. I knew I got aggressive when isolated, and Malik knew this too, so it was surprising that he so easily dropped me to take Yugi home.

Fucking _Yugi_…

He would die. But not tonight.

Like most large cities in Japan, Domino was filled with bright and flashy shit and lots of technology and crap we never had back home in Egypt. I'd grown accustomed to Japan by this point, since I'd been there about two years now, but I was sure I'd never really like it there. I was okay so long as I had Malik, though. But if he disappeared, I'd go completely off the deep-end.

I'd made plans to just go to the arcade and play some video games (they help to distract me; huzzah for more bright and flashy shit) but the smell of blood caused me to come to a stop. It was coming from an alley just ahead. I knew that smell very well—it was sweet and alluring, but a hint of sour in the air told me it was stale.

Usually when I smelled that particular mix of smells it was a hooker or something that had just suffered a really bad night on the job, or some stupid city-person that was unlucky enough to come across someone like me when I wanted pasta but had no cash. But this smell was too familiar to be some random moron dead in an alley.

I stopped to look in the alley and was surprised to be surprised at what I found: Bakura was lying in a pool of his own blood, splayed out in a manner that told me he'd been exhausted when he'd collapsed. He'd been in some sort of fight, and from the looks of all the red on his torn teal shirt, it had been a pretty harsh one—one he'd lost. I might have been impressed by the attacker had he been there. Not many people could pull that level of shit with Bakura.

It didn't take but a few moments of inspection to see what bad condition he was in. I moved hair from his face, having knelt down for a closer look, and tilted my head when seeing the gashes across his right eye and upper cheek. He'd been cut, looked like, and then used a smoother tool to cut over the top of that, meaning he'd been attacked by someone he wanted dominancy over.

Bakura had always been predictable, and this was no different.

I grunted as I lifted the pale, bloodied figure from the floor with one hand and pulled my cell from my back pocket to dial 911 with the other.

He was lucky I actually liked him, or I'd have finished him off myself.

_-(Next scene)-_

Apparently, Bakura and I come across as siblings, because all the nurses kept bringing me his fucking paperwork to fill out. This was the last time I saved his ass (or anyone else's).

I didn't really know a lot of the information they wanted (I knew Bakura's SSN and his basic information, but I didn't know shit about his family or address) so I amused myself by making shit up.

_Name: Princess Ryou Bakura_

_Age: 312_

_Sex: Whore_

_Address: 666 Candy Land_

_Phone Number: 1-666-albino-slut_

_Legal Guardian: Satan_

Well, that was fun.

I tossed the tablet and paperwork on the bed, not bothering to care that it landed on Bakura's ankle, which I'd been told was twisted. Looked like he leapt from a two-story window. Nice job, Bakura.

That whole situation was strange. Bakura was seriously injured: he had eight stab wounds, a twisted right ankle, a broken rib or two, a gash across his face, a sliced left hand (he'd attempted to block a knife and got stabbed in the process, looked like) and several other minor injuries. He'd been running. He'd leapt from a fucking window. All of this was adding up to something well-beyond the normal fights he got involved in, and whoever did this meant serious business.

I was allowing my mind to backtrack when Bakura moved, groaning after I'd hit him with his paperwork. "'Bout damn _time_ you woke up," I growled. "I've been forced to do your fucking paperwork and sit here for the last hour. By the way, I called your little _boyfriend_. Kaiba should be here pretty soon. He was pretty pissed." I really hadn't been sure what the brunette had even said on the phone when I told him about having found Bakura in a back alley half-dead. It sort of faded into foaming at the mouth after he'd cursed and ranted for a few minutes about how stupid Bakura was. I'd hung up on him, and I was sure that had just angered him more.

That was about five minutes ago, so he'd probably be here in about…two or three minutes. I checked my watch. Two or three seemed about right. He'd zoom over in one of his sleek cars, ignore parking lanes, probably shove a cancer patient out of the way, and storm in here screaming like an over-concerned banshee with PMS. He should really consider taking YAZ. I'd suggested it to him once in the past and he'd tried glaring me into goo but I was immune to his laser-vision (unlike Bakura who often threw himself into spats over the same looks).

"_Marik_…?"

My eyes enlarged a little when I heard the voice. This was Ryou, Bakura's other side—his 'Light', as Bakura sometimes called him. Ryou was a gentle, passive, soft-spoken, useless little creature that gave Bakura a bad name with that damned smile of his.

Ryou was one of the few people I tried to avoid. He was too damn _happy_ all the time about fucking _nothing_. I didn't get it at all. How could anyone be so happy? He had no reason to be happy. Even after having been stabbed and left for dead, his aura was all rainbows and ponies and flowers and sparkles, and I winced when he turned his brown eyes (which were somehow larger and bubblier than Bakura's) towards me. I could see he was in pain, but Ryou smiled anyways.

What the hell was up with this kid?

"Marik," he spoke weakly, his expression soaked with pathetically high levels of relief. "You saved us…"

Damn it… His rainbows shut me down. I just stared at him, shivering a little as my anti-rainbows waged futile wars against his happiness. "I didn't save _you_." I crossed my arms when finding myself unable to break eye-contact. How was he so damn nice? Or cute? Or happy? Or cute? What the hell? "I saved _Bakura_," I corrected. It was true, at least.

The Light smiled a little wider anyways and I flinched again. "You're so nice, Marik," he beamed. "Thank you."

I wasn't being nice! "If Bakura died, I'd be a lot more bored in class, that's all."

He fucking giggled and I wanted to die. "I am quite sure he'll thank you for your kindness," the British fool spoke weakly. "And you called Kaiba, too?"

"Well I'm not about to sit around and fill out all your damn paperwork and feed you and change your diapers."

He just smiled and I wanted more than anything to figure out how to make him frown. Nobody should ever be that happy!

Stop smiling!

_Stop it!_

"Thank you."

"Whatever."

"You even stayed here with me."

I felt his rainbows swell and got nauseated. It was a damn good thing I was in a hospital. I could steal some drugs on the way out; the hallway wasn't very well-guarded. "The damn nurses are bitches," I snarled. "They wouldn't let me leave until Kaiba got here."

Ryou smiled…_again_. I was about to get up at maybe try to smother him with his own pillow to stop the happiness from growing any further when he hit me with: "You're a good friend, Marik. Bakura and I are lucky to know you." So instead of smothering him, I just sat there, incapable of response. The Light had frozen-over my violence and my anger, and I was now little more than a stationary body in an uncomfortable hospital chair. Ryou's energy penetrated everything and somehow made it all fluffier and happier, even when he was half-dead. I wasn't sure if I wanted to kill him to make it stop (though I was pretty sure his aura would prevent me from being able to go through with it), or make him sit with me all the time to blunt me. Duke was good at that, too, but this was far beyond Duke. Ryou's rainbows made me goo.

Two or three minutes must have passed because Kaiba's voice was booming in the hall. "Get out of my way!" he screamed at a nurse.

"Sir, you need to sign in at the front desk!"

"I'm fucking _Seto Kaiba_!"

Ryou giggled some while we listened to the scene play out. The doctors around here should figure out a way to bottle Ryou's laughter and make it into Happy Pills, because I was certain it could cure cancer or end world hunger or something.

"I own this city! Now get out of my way and let me in there!"

"Sir, the paperw—!" She squealed so he must have pushed her or something.

Kaiba appeared and I took note that he was wet. It must have started raining between when I found Bakura and now. He hadn't bothered to use an umbrella, but that was pretty typical. I was actually pretty surprised that he hadn't flow in through the window with a jet-pack or something, because he tended to pull that sort of shit, especially when he got overexcited. Ryou or Bakura being injured was probably pretty high on his panic-mode-list, though, just under 'Mokuba being kidnapped…again'.

"_Bakura_!" he yelled. "You son of a bitch! Making me come all the way out here this late at night, in the rain, to get you because you're all beat up to hell!"

"Chill, Seto." I somehow found myself standing between the brunette and the bed, glaring him down. "It's Ryou. Pipe-down before you give him a heart-attack." I didn't know why I was defending the weakling, or why I felt the need to make Seto calm down before speaking to him, but I didn't bother to over-think it and just went with my instincts because it felt right at the time.

He growled but quieted down after a few seconds and I relaxed when I saw his muscles unwind. "Ryou," his voice was even now, so I returned to my chair, "are you all right?"

I'd never seen Kaiba look genuinely concerned like that. It was sort of fascinating, actually, seeing him being all soft and gentle and pansy-ass with someone besides his tiny little brother. In class, Kaiba took care not to come across as too concerned with Ryou or his health, but it was always obvious to me how important Ryou was to the multi-billionaire. It was a little sickening after a few seconds, so I looked away as they exchanged conversation.

"I'm okay… Really. I'm fine."

"What happened?" There was that Kaiba-gentility again.

"I…got into a fight…"

"You mean Bakura?"

"Well…I sort of started it, I suppose…"

We were both surprised at that. Ryou didn't _do_ fighting.

"What happened? Start from the beginning."

"I went over to speak to daddy about leaving," Ryou explained quietly. I pretended not to listen but logged every one of his meek little words away. "He didn't take it very well…"

"You spoke to Zorc?" Kaiba's voice tensed. "_Ryou_!"

So 'Zorc' was Bakura and Ryou's father. Ryou had gone to give an '_I'm in love with a boy and leaving you forever_' speech but daddy didn't like it. Bakura had woken up and fought with him and ended up in the hospital.

This Zorc guy must be massive.

Bakura never spoke of his family. I knew he was being abused because he was really horrible at lying to me and that he didn't want me to become involved because of my own history with abusive parents. I also knew that he had once had a mother and sister because I'd heard Ryou mention them before, but it was always in past-tense.

"I know, I know," Ryou whimpered when Kaiba's voice rose. "I know I shouldn't have gone…but…it was something I felt I needed to do…"

"Bakura woke up."

"Yeah… I guess… I don't really remember it… I woke up here. Marik saved us."

Kaiba turned his blue eyes towards me but I kept my own from meeting his, focusing on a potted plant in the corner of the room. It was probably for the best I'd been alone when I found Bakura—all the white in here would have given Malik a panic attack. "Thanks," was all Kaiba offered. "I owe you one, I guess."

"You sure as hell do. I wasted my night saving his pasty ass."

Kaiba turned from me again and I allowed myself to watch the strange pair interact again. "How badly are you injured?"

"I'll be fine," Ryou assured again. "I'm tender and weak and a little cold, but I'll be all right." He beamed another smile and I felt my stomach drop.

Kaiba seemed similarly affected by the boy's smiles, so at least I knew it wasn't just me. He placed a hand on Ryou's shoulder, leaning down to speak quietly. "Stay here." Like Ryou could just get up… _Ass_. "I'm going to go take care of this."

"No! Kaiba! Please don't!" Ryou whined and clung to the teenager's arm before he could pull away. "Daddy is too strong! He'll harm you!"

"I can handle myself."

"Kaiba… he….he knows…"

"Knows what?"

"About….you…. Bakura… Us…" Ryou hung his head, looking especially pathetic and self-abusive at this point.

So he told his daddy that he had a boyfriend, huh? Shit, even I knew that could be bad for Kaiba's public image. If word got out that he was gay, some people might turn on him. But the CEO didn't seem very startled or worried about this. Instead of getting angry, he just kissed Ryou on the head (I _seriously_ never thought I'd live to see that level of fluff occur), glared over at me when having realized I'd seen this transpire, and moved towards the door. "Kaiba!" Ryou cried. "Where are you going? Kaiba!"

He stopped in the doorway to glare at me and we exchanged hot eyes for a second as he studied my intentions. "Keep an eye on him until I get back," he ordered.

"I expect to get paid for babysitting."

"Whatever. Just keep your Egyptian ass parked until I come back. If I don't return in an hour, call Mokuba and tell him where I am."

"And where might that be?"

He walked out the door. "Bakura's house."

I turned my lilac eyes back towards Ryou, who was whimpering excessively. He sniveled a little after a failed attempt at crawling from the bed to I guess go after Kaiba. "_Moron_!" I hissed, jumping up from my seat. "Stop fidgeting! You're only going to injure yourself further!"

Ryou's eyes were enormous and glazed. I didn't know what I'd do if he started to bawl or something. "He could get hurt…"

"He's a big boy." I sat down again, crossing my arms and legs, getting settled in the uncomfortable chair. It would be a long night, but at least I was getting paid for my time. "He'll be fine. Now stop crying and rest. If you die, Kaiba will probably have me sent back to Egypt or something."

Ryou whined a little and rubbed at his swollen eyes, whimpering about how his face was sore. He'd be scarred for sure. It was a shame, really. The scar would match Bakura and suit him just fine, but Ryou didn't look like the sort of person that should have a scar on his face. He'd look like a fucking pirate. A cute pirate. And that was just wrong.

I frowned at how Bakura's rashness had damaged his Light. How had he not considered the repercussions of his actions? Cutting his face was cutting Ryou's face.

Selfish bastard….

So now I was stuck babysitting the Light. Fantastic. He'd start to talk to me, because that's what Ryou does – mostly about nothing, from the little I've bothered to listen to.

Kaiba had better come back. I wasn't really much into adopting his almost-boyfriend.

_-(Next Scene)-_

(Kaiba's POV)

One of the reasons Bakura and I got along so well because we were so alike: him not talking about his father was one of the many things we shared. We both had a distaste for our fathers, mostly because they were controlling assholes (I chose to be in denial about my own likenesses to Gozobarou), and if we could get away with it they'd be dead. I'd managed to scoot mine out of the country and kept our contact limited to the occasional legal threat through our overpaid lawyers, and now it was time for me to face Bakura's father—_Zorc_.

Because he didn't like talking about him, I knew very little about Zorc, only what I'd managed to get out of Ryou: that he was a rich, sadistic prick that occasionally beat the shit out of Ryou to make himself feel better. It didn't sound too horrible. I was pretty sure I could knock him on his ass if necessary but I preferred to keep to business terms. After all, the bastard was a businessman like myself, and all good businessmen preferred to settle shit with paperwork.

Maybe I could buy them off of him. He sounded like the sort of father to sell the rights to his own children. But I'd have to be very careful with myself—since he was so much like my own father, Zorc undoubtedly had it set up that he could blackmail people. He probably already knew a shitload about me and was prepared to make my plans backfire. If I opted to buy Ryou, he could easily report me for human trafficking, so, as much as I preferred that plan (using money to solve my problems was always so much easier), it didn't seem like one I could use.

I'd have to come up with something else and soon because I had just pulled up and was now at the front gate of the dark mansion Bakura and Ryou had once called home. Bakura had told me about how he snuck in and out, and that made it easy to do the same. I followed his route and easily made my way into the house, climbing up a large oak tree to slip into Bakura's old room. There wasn't a significant amount of time for me to spend looking through the strange place, but I couldn't help but be curious about the place the two souls had shared once upon a time.

It was a smaller room, when compared to something like Mokuba's, but I got the feeling that was how the two preferred it. I could definitely tell this was Ryou's place and that Bakura didn't ask for anything personal because there were 'Ryou' things everywhere—potted plants, brightly colored accessories, a British flag bedspread with blue and white striped sheets and pillows, boxes with what I could presume were colored pencils and gel pens and crayons… Everything there at least mildly resembled Ryou's room back at our place. There was one difference: no photographs of people. It was sort of eerie, actually, to see such faceless walls. Ryou loved taking photographs. On more than one occasion he'd pissed me off with how many photos he demanded taking with me.

I began to understand just how isolated they'd been when living here. Before moving in with Mokuba and me, Ryou and Bakura had been alone. And it was safe to say that before Bakura showed up, Ryou had been _completely_ alone.

I frowned and turned my eyes towards the door, opening it and strolling into the hallway towards where I would put my own library.

It was surreal to notice how similar this mansion was to my own, at least in décor. Everything was rich but tasteful, with the right balance of art and furniture and taste. If this guy weren't such a prick, I might have gotten along with him—or at least we could agree on interior design. But I wasn't here to make a friend or even a business partner. Beating the shit out of Ryou and Bakura crossed my line, and now I was coming to make sure it didn't happen again.

One way or another, after this evening, Zorc wouldn't be bothering them anymore.

I stopped in the doorway to what appeared to be a Den or office, which was right across from where I could tell the library was located. I'd stopped here because there was a rather large, dark figure sitting at the desk, and could safely presume this was whom I'd come to locate.

But before I could open my mouth to begin my demands, not even bothering to explain how I'd gotten there because he didn't deserve that, he spoke first.

"So," his voice was deep and raspy, sort of reminding me of a much darker version of Bakura's, "I see you finally showed up."

I carefully watched the figure move to finish signing paperwork before tensing when he looked up. His eyes were black—not brown, but black. Everything about him was dark: his hair was black, his suit was black, even his skin was a darker shade. How the hell had someone like this popped out Ryou?

"You didn't give me much of a choice." I made certain my voice was as level and sturdy as ever. It was easy enough to do. By now I was an expert at hiding my anxieties. I knew I'd have to lock myself in place to be sure I didn't crack from under the pressure of the other man's presence. His eyes were heavy and hard, and I could barely stand looking into them as I was being forced to do now. The effect was similar to looking right at Yugi for an elongated period of time, only on the opposite spectrum. This bastard shot anything but rainbows, but I wasn't certain what word best suited anti-rainbows. I'd look that up later. "I can't exactly let you just get away with nearly killing someone, now can I? I wouldn't be a good citizen."

He scoffed and stood to his full height. Holy shit, he was massive! It took every ounce of my will not to look startled by his height and overall figure. He had to be a good head over me. Jesus! He was huge! "He is my son and I can do with him as I please," Zorc grunted. "Now get off my property before I have you arrested for trespassing."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to make this situation right, and you'd be smart to work with me."

He smiled. "Oh? Would I now?"

"Do I have to remind you who I am?"

"You're Seto Kaiba." His hands slipped behind him and he took a couple of steps towards me. I didn't move, and that must have impressed him because he just smirked wider. "You own Kaiba Corporation and most of this city. You have a little brother named Mokuba and you used your stocks to take the company over before running your father off to Europe.

My instincts told me to run. I felt like a fucking cat staring up at a large, black, ugly dog that hadn't eaten in several days. It was rare I felt small, but this was one of those situations…and he was one of those people. I willed my legs to lock. I wouldn't run. I glared back up at the businessman, determined not to show my anxiety. I wasn't going to be run off by some douche in a hideous tie. "Glad to know I'm so popular," I growled. "Now how about you cut the shit and just get to the core of this matter? I'm here to take Ryou."

"Like _hell_ you are. You've taken in my son because you think he's safer with you—but he's not. I won't stand for anyone, even you, taking my son away from me. You think you own everything, well you fucking don't. Kaiba or not, I will _crush_ you and your corporation if and when I see fit to do so."

My eyes tightened. "I don't take kindly to threats."

"Ryou will move back in tomorrow." He turned his back towards me and my fingers clenched into a ball. Bastard! He thought he could boss me around and then turn away from me? His disrespect was staggering! I knew that he knew exactly what he was doing. Turning your back like that meant he wasn't scared of me at all, and that just pissed me off.

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then I guess I'll just have to expose your relationship."

I'd been expecting that. He was threatening to tell the world that I was involved with a boy, and an unstable one at that. Most people would see Ryou or Bakura and consider them just an insane person. I knew better, of course, but it would make life a bit more difficult. However, none of that mattered now. Besides, I knew ways to use that to my advantage: gays were still a minority and anyone that dared try judging me based strictly on that was an easy target for a lawsuit. As for Ryou and Bakura, they'd have to suck it up and pretend to be normal. They'd done it before and Bakura could do it again.

I wasn't going to allow myself to be intimidated.

I was fucking _Seto Kaiba_. I owned Domino and no one, no one, told me what to do or how to live my life. I'd stomached my own father and I didn't need this guy to pull the same shit twice. That wouldn't be allowed. I'd sooner poison him and give him a heart attack than tolerate his existence in my city.

"You do that," I smirked. "I think I'll take my chances."

He turned, glowering darkly with those black pits of his. "You have no idea who you're fucking with."

I folded my arms. "Listen, you freak, I own this city and I say who goes and who stays. I also say that you're an abusive parent and that you're not fit to take care of your son. I've taken him in as my good deed for the year. You know, _karma_ and all that sh*t." I smirked at the scowl he wore. "I just want to make sure I don't come back as a _cow_ or something. Or, God forbid, Wheeler's pet." That thought was enough on its own to make me physically ill. How demeaning.

"Sarcasm is proof of a weak mind," he snarled before I turned my back on him.

"So are your taste in carpeting."

The lines on his face wrinkled tighter.

"I expect you out of town in a week."

"You can't get rid of me, you know. I don't hide behind _stocks_ like your father."

I stopped in the doorway and glanced back to shoot him another confident grin. "Get rid of that chair in there. It's hideous."

He roared and I showed myself out to head back to the hospital.

That went smoother than I'd expected. Only one threat of blackmail had been made and that meant he didn't have a lot on me. Now I had time to get trash on him and force Zorc out of the city and our lives just like I'd done to Gozabarou.

The drive back to the hospital was quick and painless. I didn't especially trust someone like Marik Ishtar to be very good at taking care of Ryou, however, and my paranoia convinced me to call him. I didn't especially care that I was driving and talking on my cell at the same time; no cop would pull this particular car over.

"Your Egyptian ass had better still be in that seat when I get back, Ishtar."

Marik was growling on the other side of the line, cursing at Ryou before responding to me. "Yeah, yeah," he grunted. "I'm still here. You're lucky, too, because this pasty pussy of yours keeps trying to get out of bed and it makes things really difficult."

I turned onto the primary street the hospital was on. "Tell him I'll be back shortly."

"Whatever."

"If he's more injured when I get back than he was when I left, I will have you deported."

Marik snarled but I could tell by his pause that my threat had been understood. He knew I meant business. "He's fine. Relax. He's just whining and shooting rainbows from his ass like he always does."

I pulled into the parking garage and slid into the closest spot to the door that I could fine. It didn't especially bother me that it was a handicapped spot—they could fine me if they wanted to, but I doubted anyone here had the balls. It was a good think Mokuba wasn't here, though, I thought as I entered the building and began my way towards Ryou's room, because he'd probably have yelled about it.

_-(Next Scene)-_

(Marik's POV)

It was around three in the morning before Kaiba came back from Bakura's place. I'd never met Zorc myself but I could safely presume that he was a total douche, and he had to be huge too after what he did to Bakura, so when the brunette came through the door, I was almost impressed by his lack of dismemberment.

Kaiba only briefly paused to make sure I was where he'd left me. After he'd discarded his many plans of what to do to me had I not been in the said chair when he'd returned (Ra forbid I have been in the fucking bathroom or something), he moved to check on the boy in the hospital bed.

Ryou was fast asleep. After having forced me to tell him an Egyptian bedtime story, he'd clocked out. That was about twenty minutes of silent bliss ago, and up until Kaiba had come back, the time alone had been nice.

Ryou was sort of obnoxious, mostly because he insisted upon a lack of silence, forcing lots of pointless chitter-chatter. I wished the hospital room had come with a television—surely that would have worked to have kept him at least mildly entertained. He seemed to derive great pleasure in talking about absolutely nothing. He preferred to ask lots of questions and tried more than once to get me to talk about myself, but I had no desire to talk to give in to his rainbows. Instead I told him to shut up and take a nap, but Ryou was one of those rare people that didn't take me seriously and that just pissed me off… It bothered me that he was taking such a sudden interest in my personal life. Before today we'd spoken all of ten words to one another and he'd been perfectly content before with my grunted responses—now he wanted actual answers.

_Blech_…

"How long has he been asleep?"

"Less than half an hour." I'd been keeping myself busy with reading a pamphlet on breast cancer and was working on finishing up the one Kaiba had so rudely interrupted when he'd come back. I wasn't really sure why I was reading it, I guess because it was there, but it made me all the more glad that I was gay.

"Thank you for staying with him."

I grunted and slid the pink pamphlet back into its slot on the wall just behind me so I could glare at the brunette. "I expect to get paid."

"Whatever. You can go now." He waved a hand and sat down, excusing me from my babysitting duties for the evening. "Go back to setting fire to squirrels, or whatever the hell you do for fun."

"That's more along _Malik's_ line of fun," I corrected as I stood. My whole back popped out of place and made all sorts of ungodly noises. Shit, that chair was uncomfortable. "I prefer running people off the sidewalk with my bike."

"That's a nice little factoid. Now get the hell out."

I rolled by eyes and grabbed my jacket. "Fine. That's the last good deed of the year for me."

"Did the doctors say anything while I was gone?"

I stopped in the doorway, not bothering to turn.

Ryou didn't like doctors much. He'd put on a good face but his apprehension was obvious to me when they'd come in before. It had made me almost punch the guy in the face—not that he'd done anything wrong, but it was an excuse to let off some tension. I'd decided instead to just make a note of this curiosity. Bakura was scared of doctors too, but he'd never explained why.

"They said he'll be fine."

"That's it?"

I sighed, trying not to remember how I'd felt so inexplicably concerned over Ryou's anxiety. "He'll be ready to be checked out of the hospital in the morning so long as he gets bed-rest at home."

"That's good to hear."

"You should do a better job."

"Hm?"

"You don't protect them well enough." I still hadn't turned around, but I was talented at feeling what people were expressing without even looking at them. Right then my gut was telling me that Kaiba was glowering at me. "I don't want to have to do this for you again, and not because Ryou is fucking obnoxious, which he is," there was a growl but I ignored it (Kaiba wasn't as close to being as intimidating as my brother was and comparing them just made the rich boy look pathetic), "but because I love Bakura. …But he belongs to you now, and if anything happens to him…_anything_…I will kill you."

Tired and unwilling to argue, I just walked out after that and headed back home.

Bakura was Kaiba's now, and he'd better fucking take care of him…

* * *

I'll re-open with Bakura's POV again in the next chapter, but there are going to be a few other POVs in that one, too. I will also be posting some side stories soon, too!


	11. Side Story: The First Kiss

This is a short bit of filler that takes place just after the last chapter but before the next. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to post this as part of the main story, but you can consider it a side-chapter :T… It's entirely from Yugi's POV and the PV will switch back to Bakura after this, but then to Marik. There will be a bit of skipping around in the next chapter or so. It's time for character development!

Now then…PREPARE FOR FLUFF AND CUTENESS!

Malik/Yami Marik x Yugi 4evuh 333~!

[Remember that in my stories, Malik = Yami Marik]

* * *

**Questionable Existence (side story)**

(Yugi's POV)

It was around two when I dropped by the Ishtar's house. Malik had invited me over to come see the place and play some Duel Monsters and watch TV and just chill since he was alone. He'd said that Ishizu, his older sister and the one who owned the place, was out of town on business, and Marik was hanging out with Duke today. I'd left my own twin back at home to fend for himself. Atem would probably try calling me several times, so I turned my cell to vibrate as I came up the stairs to the particularly nice place.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the Ishtars' home. I'd never gotten to meet Ishizu, but with Marik and Malik living there, it didn't seem likely that the place was in good condition.

I took in a deep breath before knocking on the white door, stepping back to wait for a response. "Okay… You can do this… It's just hanging out."

I was nervous—_really_ nervous—and not because it was the Ishtars (I'd gotten used to their eccentricities over the last few weeks), but because of something Bakura had said the day before: "You like him, don't you?" I'd never considered this before Bakura had spoken it.

Did I like Malik? I mean…really like him?

We'd grown pretty close since that night he and Marik spent the evening at the Game Shop. He was over a lot (meaning we forced Atem and Marik in the same room together; they'd actually learned how to coexist and were even dating now) and we usually played Duel Monsters or just talked or played games or something like that.

Something about him was…I dunno…magical?

Okay... Maybe "magical" might be a little over the top.

Malik Ishtar was someone I greatly enjoyed getting to spend time with, alone or otherwise. He had become my best friend next to Joey and we all loved hanging out. Malik had even learned now to get _along_ with Joey! He still freaked Tea out, and he was a little much most of the time for Tristan, but Malik was sort of part of the group now. He could mesh in with us if he felt like it. (It was really funny seeing the bewildered looks that Bakura made when he was Malik running around with me and my friends just because he wanted to spend time with me.) And even though when we were together I'd noticed how I got butterflies in my stomach and was generally happier, I never considered the feelings to be anything more than what they were for any of my other friends. Just…different. Then Bakura had to go and open his big mouth and suggest that I in fact had a crush on the blonde.

So…was it true? Did I really have a crush on Malik? I wasn't sure, to be honest, and as I stood waiting for him to answer the door, I felt my throat clamp shut and my little heart nearly explode from anxiety.

When he opened the door and I saw him standing there in his washed out jeans and a black Metallica tank, his hair as wild and untidy as it always was, and wearing that bright grin of his…I thought I might just die. How was it possible for someone to be so grungy and yet so pretty at the same time?

I stared up at him, unable to say anything, certain my face was bright red, and he just smiled at me in the way he always did, looking as adorable and as affectionate as ever.

"Hey, little man!" Malik greeted happily when I didn't say anything. "Glad you made it!"

"Y…yeah…"

He tilted his head slightly, blinking as he studied my apparent nervousness. "You feelin' okay? You look sick or something."

"Oh. No! I'm fine!" I forced myself to move, waving my hands a little with assurance, though my smile remained a little timid. "Really. Just distracted, I guess."

"Come on in." He smiled again before walking out of the doorway back into the house so I could slide inside.

I sighed out a nervous breath when he wasn't watching me, willing my nerves to settle (though my tummy was threatening to convulse) so I could follow him inside. I shut the door quietly behind me and turned to take the house in.

It was a nice place with nice furniture and warm colors. There was a large kitchen to my right with an island, which Malik was leaning against and watching me with his lilac eyes, and to my left was a Dining Room area. Straight across from me was the Living Room, where the large flat-screen TV was turned on to a show I didn't recognize. There was Egyptian art and style everywhere I looked, but it was all in good taste.

It was a good deal more organized (and cleaner) than I had imagined it might have been.

"Like it?"

"Yeah! It's really nice!"

"Sis' does us pretty good." He shrugged off the counter and opened the fridge. "Soda?"

"Sure." I thanked him when he handed me a coke, giggling when Malik rubbed my head with a large hand.

He smiled before motioning for me to follow him to where he flopped long-ways on their plush tan couch. I blushed some when he slapped a leg. "Park it, tiger." Malik seemed to take some sort of weird pleasure from me sitting on him. I didn't get it, but he always asked, so I complied and sat on the edge of the couch, leaning back so I was half leaning on his stomach. He then turned his eyes back towards the television, so I did the same, just trying not to look too obviously flustered.

Damn, this was so confusing.

None of it really made any sense to me. Before today, everything was fine.

Bakura was talented at throwing me off like this, but this was probably the worst 'suggestion' he'd ever made.

Was I gay? It wasn't something I knew I'd have to be embarrassed about, if it were the case. Everyone else I knew seemed to be… It was so weird how that happened. I mean, even my own brother was gay. He'd been bi for a while (whore) but now I think he'd pretty much decided he preferred boys over girls (especially since Mahad came around). The probability of me being gay too hadn't gone unprocessed through my mind, but I'd been sure up until yesterday that I wouldn't follow my brother's footsteps (I'd even crushed on Tea for a few years).

But now…

"You mind if we watch this?"

The sound of his voice made my muscles tense up. "…Huh?"

"This show. You mind?"

"Uhh…. N-no…" I tried to smile but he just arched an eyebrow. "What is it, anyways?"

"1000 Ways to Die," Malik chuckled, pointing lazily at the television for me to glance.

I winced some when I looked just in time to see someone get cut in half. The effects were cheap but still, the concept was a little disturbing. "Well,_ that's_ a little morbid."

"It's just about assholes and morons that die in weird ways," he explained. "It's actually pretty funny. It's one of my and Marik's favorite shows. You learn what _not_ to do."

"Like someone needs to tell you not to fall asleep in a giant oven…"

Was this show seriously real? Someone actually did that? What a dumb person.

"It's ridiculous," he snickered. "I love it."

"I guess it's okay to watch." I squealed when Malik pulled me back some more with one of his arms, holding me loosely around my waist. God… I wanted to die. His touch, which was always so warm and heavy but somehow gentle, made my entire body tingle. I held a breath as my stomach turned and fluttered, and length of my little body shivered as I felt my nerves beginning to collapse.

Okay…so…I liked Malik.

We watched a few episodes of the show, but I wasn't especially paying attention. All I could think about was Malik, sitting right behind me, warm and comfortable and amazing. My face was red (it had to be) and barfing from anxiety wasn't an improbability, especially when he kept pulling me closer and closer. By the end of the third episode, I'd been moved so I was lying on him, my back on his chest, my short little legs hardly reaching his knees. Malik must have known something was up, too, because he didn't talk much. He just held me to his chest with one of his long arms, his heat soaking into me and keeping me warm (the temperature in the house was probably around 60 so Malik would be comfortable).

Maybe he knew about it. Maybe Malik knew I liked him. That thought was both supportive and horrifying… If he knew, I had no reason to be nervous, really. But it also meant that he knew, and that he might do something about it, or (even worse) expect me to do something about it.

It had taken a few weeks of us being friends before it had been revealed to me that Malik was gay. He'd been a little nervous for me to find out at first because he thought it might have made our relationship as friends awkward, but I'd assured him that this wasn't the case (especially not since I lived with my 'fabulous' twin brother) and things hadn't really changed much. But if we were both gay and if I liked him, it would change everything, and I wasn't sure I wanted it to change.

I wasn't the sort of person that enjoyed taking chances, and telling Malik how I felt (which at that point I had no nerve to do anyways) would possibly ruin everything. I decided to keep my feelings to myself, but this wasn't as easy as it sounded, especially not when I was freaking lying on his stomach, staring at the ceiling and trying to behave myself.

Things got far worse when Malik seemed to feel especially playful, leading him to flip me so I was now facing him. I squealed as he snickered, poking my bright red nose. "_Boop_!" he smiled. "Aww, look at you. You're all red. What's with that face?"

My mouth wrinkled. Unable to hide my red face, I just stared at him wide-eyed and terrified.

Malik blinked softly, suddenly seeming to take real notice of my expression, and cupped my face with one of his warm hands that seemed to swallow half my head. "You're _sure_ you're feeling all right…?" My body quivered and a whimper forced itself from my tight throat when he slipped his hand up to feel my forehead, his eyebrows tilting with some concern. "You don't feel warmer than usual… …What's up? You look like you're gonna hurl."

"I… I just…" Damn it! No! Don't cry! I angled my head so my bangs would hide my tearing eyes. I couldn't prevent it now. I was crying. Damn it; I was actually crying.

"Yugi…"

"I'm okay… Really…"

"Are you…crying…?"

"No…"

He was quiet for a few seconds while his large hand moved to move the bangs from my face. I closed my eyes to hide them, but Malik had to have seen the tears biting at the corners because he released a sigh.

Damn it! I didn't want him to think I was a child! Why was I crying? Why couldn't I make it stop? My body always betrayed me!

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Emotions I didn't understand were exploding from me in all directions. I couldn't seem to handle it, so the only thing my body could do was cry and shiver and whine to process them from my system. Just when I thought for sure he'd make some joke about what a baby I was or maybe just get up and leave me there to whine on the couch, Malik's second hand appeared and cupped the other side of my face so he was holding my head, and he lifted me so I was forced to look at him.

His eyes were soft and tender, the lilac orbs a warm and comforting pool that made it easy for my tears to come. It was his way of telling me it was all right to cry, and I did what he silently urged, allowing the salty water to pour down my face even as I made no decipherable sounds.

Malik was good at reading me. Even though I sometimes didn't know what my body was trying to tell me, he somehow always seemed to understand it. So when he smiled, I knew there was no shame in my crying, and I just let my body do as it wished, pouring tears from my reddening eyes while my muscles quivered.

The blonde's purple eyes softened and slid half-shut before he shifted to slowly move towards me.

What was happening?

His face was right near mine now and I was frozen in place, red and shaking, but the tears stopped. All I could hear was my heart pounding and the faint sound of Malik taking in and holding a breath before he brushed his lips against mine. Rather than implode like I'd been expecting it to from pumping so fast, my heart seemed to catch and stop. The world came to a halt and time froze in place as he moved closer to press our lips together for the first time.

Overwhelmed, I didn't move, but my body wanted so badly for me to be brave enough to lean forward and to take him in. I wanted to absorb all of the affection he was pouring into through soft touching of the pink skin.

How was it possible to feel so much emotion at once? Confusion and pleasure and eagerness and anxiety rushed through me. My nerves were going insane. Part of me screamed that something about this was wrong and that I should run out the door and never look back, but another (maybe larger) part of me begged me to stay and to just curl against the giant and beg him never to let me leave.

He removed his face very attentively, making eye contact with me again. I could see the uncertainty in his amethyst pools, and I knew Malik was as unsure about what had just happened as I was. "Was…that all right…?" His voice was faint.

My lungs rebelled. I was having to think to make my heart pump and couldn't seem to will myself to speak, so I just nodded my head to assure him that he hadn't offended me.

Malik's eyes moved to study my still dazed and blushed expression thoroughly before he seemed to accept my nod as an "_It's all right_," which allowed him to relax. I felt his muscles loosen from under me (I hadn't noticed before then just how tight and tense they'd been and it came to my attention that he'd been as nervous as me for the entire afternoon) and he smiled, looking suddenly bashful. I'd never seen a bashful Malik and it made my face turn even redder.

Had I seriously just gotten my first kiss from Malik Ishtar?

"I like you, Yugi," he spoke softly still, his thumb tenderly moving against the right side of my cheek, which he still held with one hand. "A lot. I hope that's all right."

Finally stable enough, I nodded and whispered back, "I like you too," though it was just barely audible.

This made him beam, which caused my stomach to flutter uncontrollably but my muscles relaxed some at his familiar, goofy grin. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

He nuzzled his nose into my spiky hair, and I erupted into a fit of light giggles before he pulled me closer. "I am so happy!" There was an enthusiasm pushing behind the quiet words he spoke into my hair. "Ra. This is so perfect. Thank you, Yugi."

"Thank you for what?"

"For liking me."

I laughed gently but squealed when he licked at my ear, also causing my body to compulsively jerk in his arms, but he didn't release me. Instead, Malik just snickered and did it until I relaxed on his chest like a rag doll, just the way I knew he preferred. Once he seemed satisfied with my lack of rebellion, he kissed my temple and got more situated. It looked like he just wanted to cuddle now, and that I was just fine with.

Cuddling with Malik had always been easy to do. He was so warm and gentle. Bakura like to call him a 'mother grizzly' though, and with good reason. Malik was gentle with me, but I'd seen first-hand how he was quite capable of causing damage. If Bakura and Kaiba hadn't shown up in the hall the one time, there was no way of knowing what he'd have done to those bullies – and that was after we'd just become friends, too. I couldn't imagine what he'd do now that we…

My face contorted a little into his shoulder where I had it buried. Somehow, he always picked up these things, even if I wasn't looking directly at him (seriously, he must have a sixth sense about me or something) and I felt him stare into my hair inquisitively (I had a pretty good sense about him, myself). "What's up now?" he asked softly, teasing the back of my neck with his long fingers.

I shivered under the touch, the naked skin tingling uncontrollably and threatening to make me burst into laughter. This wasn't the time for laughing, so I shifted until he quit. "…I just… …I mean…"

He smiled. "_Yeeees_…?"

"What's…next…"

"What do you mean?"

I sighed and shifted on him (oh dear God, I might just die if I got…excited) so I could make eye contact, and seeing his light purple eyes looking so deep into me made me melt inside just a little more. I was like mush, and finding words at this point was difficult, yet somehow I scrounged them up and threw in some courage to continue our conversation. "We like each other," I squeaked. "Right? …So…."

"Oh," he chuckled. "You want to go on a date." If it were possible, my face turned redder. Malik just smiled again. "I think we could work something out. Let's try this the right way: you want to go on a date with me, Yugi?" He was positively glowing.

For the love of God… Was I actually going to do this? Was any of this really happening? Maybe I'd just eaten something weird and this was all just a dream. If it were a dream, then none of this mattered. Might as well take a chance, right? "Okay," I nodded a little. His eyes expanded as he watched me smile. "'I'll go on a date with you, Malik."

"Really?"

"Sure. I mean…I like you, and you like me…so…it seems natural…right?"

"It does!"

I giggled a little at his enthusiasm. "I've never been on a real date before," I admitted.

"It's not so bad when you have someone adorable to carry around and show off," Malik snickered, poking me in the nose again. "_Boop_."

"I can't carry you," I laughed.

"Sure you could. You just prefer not to because it'll make assholes like Kaiba look bad."

I buried my face in his warm chest and laughed.

This was going to be a long, strange dream, but I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy it.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this fluff! Damn, these two are pathetic xD.

Believe it or not, I am actually 10 pages into the next chapter. I DO plan to update it soon; just been super busy with life, work, and conventions!

Hopefully I'll be inspired enough to finish the next chapter soon. It deals with Kaiba's birthday and some interesting repercussions Marik faces for helping Bakura.


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